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Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Name: Katsukawa, Shunsho Creator Nationality: Asian; Far East Asian; Japanese Creator Role: Artist Creator Dates/Places: Japanese; 1726-1792 Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Active Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Creator Name-CRT: Katsukawa Shunsho Title: The warrior Watanabe no Tsuna fighting the demon at Rashomon Title Type: preferred View: Full View Creation Start Date: 1765 Creation End Date: 1775 Creation Date: c. 1770 Creation Place: Asia,East Asia,Japan Object Type: Prints Classification Term: Woodblock Materials and Techniques: Woodblock print. Dimensions: Chu?ban; 28.0 x 21.3 cm Inscriptions: SIGNATURE: Katsukawa Shunsho zuARTIST'S SEAL: Hayashi in jar-shaped outline AMICA Contributor: The Art Institute of Chicago Owner Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA ID Number: 1967.642 Credit Line: The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold G. Henderson. Rights: http://www.artic.edu/aic/rights/main.rights.html Context: As one of the valiant retainers of Minamoto no Yorimitsu (Raiko), the warrior Watanabe no Tsuna (953-1025) assisted in such legendary exploits as the subjugation of Shuten Doji, a hideous ogre who was terrorizing the Kyoto area. Watanabe no Tsuna's most famous single combat, however, was with a demon who appeared initially as a beautiful woman and waylaid him (depending on the version of the tale) either at Modoribashi (Modori Bridge) or Rashomon (Rasho Gate) in the imperial capital of Kyoto. The versionof the incident depicted here takes place at Rashomon- the great southern entrance to the city and frequent site of supernatural goings-on- and had first been dramatized in the fifteenth-century No play Rashomon.After an argument with Hirai Yasumasa as to whether or not a demon haunted the gate at night, Watanabe no Tsuna decides to settle the matter by visiting the spot in person. As he mounts the stone steps of the gateway to set up a warning signboard, he suddenly feels a grasp at his helmet. Drawing the famous sword Hige-kiri (Beard Cutter), given him by Yorimitsu, the warrior severs the demon's arm with a single slash, and the monster flies off with a terrible scream.The demon coiling round the gate pillar has been depicted by Shunsho with the traditional green skin, horns, and tigerskin garment. The cascades of black lines sweeping down from the top of the print serve both to suggest night and to heighten the sense of action, and the curious piece of brocade in the top left-hand corner may be an edge of the feminine costume shed by the demon as it pounces on Watanabe no Tsuna.Warrior subjects were a constant but minor genre within ukiyo-e during the eighteenth century, but about 1770 a rash of such prints appeared by leading artists such as Shunsho, Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820), Isoda Kory?sai (act. ca. 176-1788), and Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724-1770, proving that the vogue began before Harunobu's death in 1770). Shunsho himself is known to have designed more than twenty warrior prints in the chu?ban format at this time. The reason for the sudden vogue is difficult to determine; perhaps artists were simply keen to explore the possibilities of the warrior print genre using the new full-color print technology. AMICA ID: AIC_.1967.642 AMICA Library Year: 1998 Media Metadata Rights: Copyright The Art Institute of Chicago, 1998 AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
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