The name of Ishida Mitsunari was change to Kishida Mitsunari.
Battle of Okehazama was the battle where Oda Nobunaga defeated Imagawa Yoshimoto and established himself as one of the front-running warlords in the Warring States period.
Utagawa Sadahide “Construction of Himeji Castle”
(Japan Castle Foundation) (exhibited in the 1st term of the exhibition)
Gigantesque tenshu (donjon) of Himeji Castle is depicted on the broad triptych picture. This picture depicts World Heritage site Himeji Castle. In the background of the picture, one can see the calm and broad Harima Ocean. What is interesting here is that this picture depicts the castle still under construction. On the scaffold, we can see people working on the construction of the castle. Among them, we can also see several famous military commanders like “Mashiba Hisayoshoi (Hashiba Hideyoshi), Sato Masakiyo (Kato Kiyomasa), Hatagiri Katsumoto (Katagiri Katsumoto), Ukishima Masanori (Fukushima Masanori)”. The reason why that the names of military commanders were changed was as indicated before in order to avoid the punishment of Japan’s feudal government. Though fortification of Himeji Castle goes back to the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties (C. 1336-92), it became the residence of Hashiba Hideyoshi in 1580 and extensive renovation of the castle was made where it was reborn as a modern castle with a tenshu. What is interesting here is the tenshu was depicted in five layers. Actually, the tenshu of castle that Hideyoshi constructed was said to be three-layers. We can therefore see that the ukiyo-e artist depicted this picture with the image of an Edo style tenshu.
( Will be closed on October 3, 11, 17, 24, 27～31st / November 7, 14, 21st
)
●Introduction ●
In the works of celebrated places of various provinces by famous ukiyo-e artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige, we can often find depicted in them castles. Among them, some castles may still be seen today with the tenshu (donjon) of the castle (either they survived or through reconstruction), while others may only have parts of the stone walls remaining. Here, we will introduce famous castles, such as Edo Castle, Odawara Castle, Inuyama Castle and Himeji Castle as they would have been part of the scenery during the Edo period.
Ukiyo-e artists produced various kinds of works about troops conquering castles, such as the Attack of Takamatsu Castle by Hideyoshi and the Attack of Nijō Castle after the Incident of Honnō-ji by the troupe of Akechi. What is interesting here is the depiction of the tenshu (donjon). Even though the tenshu had not fully developed in a Warring States era style castle, ukiyo-e artists added on brilliant Edo-era style tenshu to the castles they depicted. In this part of the exhibition, we have collected works of ukiyo-e that aimed to illustrate these powerful battles over castles during the Warring States period.
This picture depicts the appearance of Sanada Yukimura who is trying to kill Ieyasu in the battle of Siege of Osaka.
October 1st～November 27th, 2011
● Utagawa Sadahide “ Battle
of Yamazaki” (exhibited in the 2nd
term of the exhibition)
This is
the picture about the battle of Yamazaki
between Hashiba Hideyoshi and Akechi Mitsuhide.
4, Forbidden Military Commanders of the Warring States period -Prohibition by Tokugawa Shogunate and Ukiyo-e Artists
(exhibited in the 2nd term of the exhibition)
2, Battle over the Castle ～Powerful Battle over the Castle
“Ukiyo-e War Picture Scroll ～Castles and Military Commanders”
Copyright© Ota Memorial Museum of
Art. All rights reserved.
This picture depicts the appearances of Oda Nobunaga and Troupe of Akechi Mistuhide in incident of Honnō-ji.
November
S M T W T F S
01 02 03 04 05
06 07 08 09 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30
1, Road to the Unification of the Whole Country seen in the Works of Ukiyo-e
●Utagawa Yoshitora “Takeda Katsuyori Attacking the Zenjō Castle” (exhibited in the 1st term of the exhibition)
This picture depicts the appearance of Fukushima Masanori in the decisive battle of Sekigahara.
The eventful lives of war generals in the Warring States period who fought for the unification of Japan under their names continue to enchant many people. Moreover, the castles that they built in various provinces continue to provide us the vestiges of the time, as they had been the settings of numerous battles. In recent years, helped by the influence of media such as TV dramas, cinemas and comics, the generals and their castles have become increasingly popular, even among young women. Back in the Edo and Meiji periods, the admiration for a time known for heroic, courageous warriors stayed strong and resulted in the production of many pieces of ukiyo-e prints that portrayed them, their battles and their castles. These works are precisely the focus of this exhibition.
This picture depicts the appearance of the battle over Takamatsu Castle by Hideyoshi.
Countless Japanese feudal lords fought for survival during the Warring States period. With their rich imagination, ukiyo-e artists depicted portraits of these lords and their battles. This exhibition is divided into two terms as it tries to trace through these works the flow of time during this era. In the 1st term, our focus will be on “the age of rival warlords”; from the famous rivalry between Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin, to Oda Nobunaga and his dramatic end at Honnō-ji when he was killed by a rebellion led by Akechi Mitsuhide. In the 2nd term, our focus will be on the period beginning with the unification of Japan by Toyotomi Hideyoshi and ending with the fall of the Toyotomi Clan through a summer siege of Osaka Castle (‘Osaka Natsu no Jin’).
Translation Supervised by Princeton University Language Project
3, Hokusai, Hiroshige -Lots of Famous Castles Depicted in the Landscape Picture
●Highlight Work of the Exhibition●
This picture depicts the appearance of the battle of Ōei in the Muromachi period.