About This Print
One of twenty prints (chūban size) which make up the series A Mirror of Strange Tales from China and Japan (Wakan kidan kagami). Pictured is Chinzei Hachirō Tametomo [Minamoto No Tametomo (1139-1177)] slaying what appears to be a powerful konoha-tengu (Tumbling-leaf tengu), with its characteristic bright red human face, long bulbous nose, wild hair, and bulging eyes.1 Tametomo has cut off the tengu's head, also severing the cliff edge. Part of the tengu's severed body can be seen beneath the scroll on the right.
This design was derived from Yoshitoshi's teacher, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), almost identical print created about 30 years earlier for the series Ten Famous Excellences of Tametomo (Tametomo homare no jikketsu), published by Aritaya Seiemon, c. 1848.
untitled print from the series
Ten Famous Excellences of Tametomo (Tametomo homare no jikketsu)
Tametomo was the hero of many legends, one of which has him being stopped from committing ritual suicide while at sea by a tengu sent by Emperor Sutoku.2
The prints in this series were originally issued as a pair of chūban size prints on an ōban size sheet as shown below.
Top: Toki no Daishiro wrestling with a guardian king.
Bottom: Chinzei Tametomo near a waterfall with a drawn sword.
1 Handbook of Japanese Mythology, Michael Ashkenazi, ABC CLIO, 2003, p. 271.
2 Reference Utagawa Kuniyoshi's (1798-1861) 1851 woodblock triptych Retired Emperor Sutoku sends his followers to rescue Tametomo.
Print Details
| IHL Catalog | #691 | ||
| Title |
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| Series | Models of Strange Stories of Japan and China (sometimes seen translated as Comparison of Strange Stories of Japan and China) Wakan Kidan Kagami 和漢奇談鑑 | ||
| Artist | Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) | ||
| Signature | None on this bottom sheet. Top sheet (see above) contained artist's signature "Yoshitoshi ga" in cartouche in left margin. | ||
| Seal | none | ||
| Date | 1880 明治13年 (Meiji 13) | ||
| Publisher |  | ||
| Carver | |||
| Impression | good | ||
| Colors | excellent | ||
| Condition | good - light soiling throughout; vertical center fold almost splitting paper; light wrinkling | ||
| Genre | ukiyo-e | ||
| Miscellaneous | Keyes #435 | ||
| Format | horizontal chūban (originally issued as a pair on an ōban sheet as shown above) | ||
| H x W Paper | 6 7/8 x 9 1/8 in. (17.3 x 23.2 cm) | ||
| H x W Image | 6 3/8 x 8 1/4 in. (16.2 x 21 cm) not including cartouche in left margin | ||
| Collections This Print | Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library K915-108-039-011 | ||
| Reference Literature |
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