Lady Tomoe (Tomoe jo), from the series "Framed Pictures of Women for the Katsushika Circle (Katsushikaren gakumen fujin awase)"
- Date:
- c. 1822
- Medium:
- Color woodblock print; shikishiban, surimono
- Source:
- Art Institute of Chicago
From the Katsushikaren gakumen fujin awase, this [shikishiban](/glossary/shikishiban) [surimono](/glossary/surimono) depicts Tomoe Gozen, the legendary twelfth-century female warrior associated with Minamoto no Yoshinaka in the Heike monogatari, presented within the series' characteristic framing device. Held by the Art Institute of Chicago and dated to around 1822, the print is among the most charged subjects in the Framed Pictures series, since Tomoe's biography combines martial prowess, romantic loyalty, and the existential weight of having survived the death of her lord. Her inclusion alongside the more conventionally courtly women of the series, including Ono no Komachi and Kogo no Tsubone, demonstrates the kyoka circle's interest in expanding the canon of legendary women to include figures of action and battle. Gakutei renders her with the framing device intact, the visual presentation as restrained as for the rest of the series, allowing her armor and weapons to do the iconographic work of identification.
Woodblock print
Woodblock print
c. 1830/35
Color woodblock print; oban
![Mount Fuji on a Moonlit Night, Kawai Bridge (Tsukiyo no Fuji [Kawaibashi]), from the series "Selection of Views of the Tokaido (Tokaido fukei senshu)" by Kawase Hasui](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/d0960668-1e73-339a-b182-fb995a54bff0/full/843,/0/default.jpg)
1947
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Lady Tomoe (Tomoe jo), from the series "Framed Pictures of Women for the Katsushika Circle (Katsushikaren gakumen fujin awase)" was created by Yashima Gakutei (八島岳亭) in c. 1822.
Lady Tomoe (Tomoe jo), from the series "Framed Pictures of Women for the Katsushika Circle (Katsushikaren gakumen fujin awase)" depicts mount fuji.
