Bijutsu Nihon rekishi zue, zen (Japanese History Illustrated in Art, complete)
Japan, unknown artist, Bijutsu Nihon rekishi zue, zen (Japanese History Illustrated in Art, complete), 1890/1910, color woodblock print on paper; ōban nishiki-e; accordion-fold album with ten triptychs, Gift of an Anonymous Donor, public domain, 2009.55
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Bijutsu Nihon rekishi zue, zen (Japanese History Illustrated in Art, complete)
- Related Titles
catalog entry: Bijutsu Nihon rekishi zue, kan (Japanese History Illustrated in Art, complete)
original language: 桜井驛楠公教訓之圖
translated: Japanese History Illustrated in Art
translated: Lord Kusunoki Instructs His Son at Sakurai
transliterated: Bijutsu Nihon rekishi zue, kan
- Artist
- Related People
publisher: Kubota Chōkichi (Japanese, fl. late 19th-early 20th century)
- Date
1890/1910
- Period
Japan: Meiji period (1868-1912)
- Medium
color woodblock print on paper; ōban nishiki-e; accordion-fold album with ten triptychs
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
each sheet: 13 7/8 in x 9 5/16 in; overall: 13 15/16 in x 9 3/8 in x 3/4 in
- Collection Area
Asian Art; Graphic Arts
- Category
Books, Portfolios, and Manuscripts
Japanese Traditional Prints
- Object Type
relief print
album
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
Gift of an Anonymous Donor
- Accession Number
2009.55
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
This accordion-fold album, perhaps an assemblage created by a private collector, consists of ten triptychs by various Meiji-period artists that deal with legends of military valor. Although urban Japan was thoroughly modernized by the time this work was published, heroic tales of the samurai had not lost their appeal.
This print illustrates the poignant moment when Kusunoki Masashige (1294–1336), a loyal retainer of the deposed Emperor Godaigo, bids his young son Masatsura farewell before going into what he knows will be his last battle. He tearfully compares the life of the samurai to cherry blossoms, glorious but short-lived, and instructs his son to serve the emperor until death.
Long neglected by history, Masashige's reputation was revived on the eve of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when unswerving loyalty to the emperor became the national ethic. World War II kamikaze pilots took 'kikusui,' the name of Masashige’s family crest—a chrysanthemum floating in water—as the code name for their operations.
- Exhibitions
2011 The Artist's Touch, The Craftsman's Hand: Three Centuries of Japanese Prints from the Portland Art Museum Portland Art Museum
2013 Legendary Samurai Portland Art Museum