The Life of Yoshitsune (Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi)
Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi
About This Series
The Life of Yoshitsune (Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi) is one of Utagawa Hiroshige's narrative cycles, drawn from the legendary biography of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the late twelfth-century warrior whose meteoric career and tragic end made him perhaps the most beloved figure of Japanese popular history. The Yoshitsune ichidaiki gathered the canonical episodes of his life, from his childhood at Kurama Temple and the duel with Benkei on the Gojo Bridge, through the Genpei War battles at Ichinotani and Dannoura, to his betrayal by his brother Yoritomo and his death at Koromogawa, into a serial roster that subscribers could collect as a coherent narrative anthology. As a designer who had been trained in the Utagawa school under Toyohiro and was therefore equipped with the figure and warrior-print vocabulary of the line, Hiroshige handled the musha-e subject with competent narrative drama, although the cycle is best understood as a relatively peripheral production within a career increasingly dominated by landscape. Compositions situate the warrior protagonists within atmospheric settings that draw on Hiroshige's developed fukei-e vocabulary, with the bokashi-modulated skies and topographically observed grounds of his landscape work providing the stage for figural drama. The series belongs to the wider mid-century industry of historical and legendary subjects that occupied Kuniyoshi and other Utagawa designers, and Hiroshige's contribution reflects the school's expectation that its members handle the full range of ukiyo-e genres rather than the landscape monoculture for which he was personally best known. Publishers associated with such narrative cycles in this period included Sanoki, Kichizo, and other firms active in the musha-e and historical print trade. Modern scholarship treats the Yoshitsune ichidaiki as a documentary witness to Hiroshige's range and to the demands placed on the leading Utagawa designers by their publishers, and surviving impressions are valued by collectors of musha-e and of the Yoshitsune legend specifically as one of the more atmospheric treatments of that perennial subject.
Prints in This Series (2)
Frequently Asked Questions
The Life of Yoshitsune (Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi) is one of Utagawa Hiroshige's narrative cycles, drawn from the legendary biography of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, the late twelfth-century warrior whose meteoric career and tragic end made him perhaps the most beloved figure of Japanese popular history. The Yoshitsune ichidaiki gathered the canonical episodes of his life, from his childhood at Kurama Temple and the duel with Benkei on the Gojo Bridge, through the Genpei War battles at Ichinotani and Dannoura, to his betrayal by his brother Yoritomo and his death at Koromogawa, into a serial roster that subscribers could collect as a coherent narrative anthology. As a designer who had been trained in the Utagawa school under Toyohiro and was therefore equipped with the figure and warrior-print vocabulary of the line, Hiroshige handled the musha-e subject with competent narrative drama, although the cycle is best understood as a relatively peripheral production within a career increasingly dominated by landscape. Compositions situate the warrior protagonists within atmospheric settings that draw on Hiroshige's developed fukei-e vocabulary, with the bokashi-modulated skies and topographically observed grounds of his landscape work providing the stage for figural drama. The series belongs to the wider mid-century industry of historical and legendary subjects that occupied Kuniyoshi and other Utagawa designers, and Hiroshige's contribution reflects the school's expectation that its members handle the full range of ukiyo-e genres rather than the landscape monoculture for which he was personally best known. Publishers associated with such narrative cycles in this period included Sanoki, Kichizo, and other firms active in the musha-e and historical print trade. Modern scholarship treats the Yoshitsune ichidaiki as a documentary witness to Hiroshige's range and to the demands placed on the leading Utagawa designers by their publishers, and surviving impressions are valued by collectors of musha-e and of the Yoshitsune legend specifically as one of the more atmospheric treatments of that perennial subject.
The The Life of Yoshitsune (Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi) series contains 2 prints, created by Utagawa Hiroshige.
The The Life of Yoshitsune (Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi) series was created by Utagawa Hiroshige (歌川広重).
We currently have 2 of 2 known prints from the The Life of Yoshitsune (Yoshitsune ichidaiki no uchi) series indexed in our collection. Browse them all on this page.
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