Honma no Suketada from the Chronicles of Grand Peace (Honma no Suketada, Taiheiki), from the series "Twenty-four Japanese Paragons of Filial Piety for the Honcho Circle (Honchoren Honcho nijushiko)"

From the Honchoren Honcho nijushiko, this [shikishiban](/glossary/shikishiban) [surimono](/glossary/surimono) depicts Honma no Suketada, drawn from the Taiheiki, the fourteenth-century war chronicle that became one of the foundational texts of medieval Japanese historical literature. Held by the Art Institute of Chicago and dated to around 1821, the print represents the Taiheiki strand of Gakutei's source-text strategy, drawing on medieval war chronicles alongside Heian histories and Buddhist tale collections to assemble a comprehensive native canon of filial exemplars. The Taiheiki, with its rich cast of warriors, courtiers, and rebels from the turbulent fourteenth century, offered the surimono series both the dramatic weight of historical event and the resonance of a text every educated reader of the Edo period knew well. Gakutei's figural treatment of Suketada combines costume study with the linear restraint characteristic of the Honchoren commissions, and the surrounding inscription space would have carried kyoka verse responding to the story depicted.