Utagawa Yoshitsuya (1822-1866)
Minamoto no Yoshitsune (under a pine, holding his bow) and his faithful retainer, the strong warrior-monk Benkei (carrying a standard with the buddhist dharma wheel) and the fellow Genji clan warriors watch in awe, as a white dragon ascends from waves, set against a deep black sky.
This is supposed to have happened only two years before Yoshitsune’s tragic death in 1189.
Title: 文治三年奥州高館合戦自衣川白竜昇天 (Bunji sannen Ôshû Takadachi kassen Koromogawa yori hakuryû ten e noboru – A white dragon rises from the Koromo river to the sky during the battle of Takadachi in the year 1187)
Signature: Ichieisai Yoshitsuya ga
Publisher: Tsujiokaya Bunsuke
Date: 8,11/1857
Size: Oban triptych 36,3 x 72,8 cm (totalled)
Excellent impression. Colours slightly faded. Three separate sheets, trimmed a little. Paper thinning on back side on some corners, one corner on middle sheet bevelled. Minor soiling in title cartouche. Overall very good condition.
A sought-after triptych by this artist – a pupil of Kuniyoshi – with a superb depiction of a dragon!
Cf. King/Iwakiri, Japanese Warrior Prints 1646-1905. Leiden/Boston 2007, p. 363f, No. 295 (Ill.); MFA Boston, Bigelow Coll. No. 11.37940a-c, 11.22914-6; Freer/Sackler, S2004.3.203a-c. Shizuoka Prefectural Central Library K915-108-047-026
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