- Title
- Yamamoto Kansuke Haruyuki
- Date Made
- 1858, 6th month
- Period
- Edo period (1603 - 1868)
- Medium
- Color woodblock print
- Dimensions
- Image: 13 1/2 × 8 3/16 in. (34.29 × 20.8 cm)
Sheet: 13 1/2 × 8 3/16 in. (34.29 × 20.8 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2000.105.99
- Collecting Area
- Japanese Art
- Curatorial Notes
This print depicts Yamamoto Kansuke Haruyuki (1501-1561) in his final moments during the fourth battle of Kawanakajima (1561).
After his battle strategy failed, General Yamamoto Haruyuki is said to have taken up a yari spear and rushed into battle to regain his honor. Here the general is pictured standing atop of the head of a defeated enemy after retreating from battle. Haruyuki's elaborate armor is pierced with arrows and blood flows from his wounds. He leans against his yari spear as a second warrior offers him a bowl of water. Soon following this, to avoid death at the hands of the enemy, he committs seppuku - ritual suicide. In order to prepare for seppuku, he is said to have retreated from the battlefield to a secluded area such the one depicted in the print.