Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Sakanoue Tamuramaro in Rain of Arrows1876

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Title: Sakanoue Tamuramaro in Rain of Arrows
Place Made: Japan
Date Made: 1876
Period: Meiji period (1868-1912)
Medium: Color woodblock print
Dimensions: Image: 12 5/8 × 8 1/8 in. (32.07 × 20.64 cm) Sheet: 14 × 9 3/16 in. (35.56 × 23.34 cm)
Credit Line: Herbert R. Cole Collection
Accession Number: M.84.31.248
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Japanese Art
Curatorial Notes: When an event of great importance in the world occurs, it is said that the grave of Sakanoue Tamuramaro shakes mysteriously, a superstition arising from Sakanoue's central role in Japanese history. As Japan's first shogun in the late 8th century, Sakanoue served three different emperors with unfaltering fidelity. His legend was especially popular during Yoshitoshi's time, when the Meiji government promoted the emperor as a living emblem of Japanese culture and encouraged the country to serve him in any way possible. Here, we see Sakanoue directing a dense line of arrows toward an unseen enemy, most likely the Ainu, whom his emperor intended to force into submission. The rain of arrows in the name of the emperor symbolizes the intense nationalism of Meiji Japan as well as illustrating Sakanoue's potency as a military leader.

Not on view

Artist or Maker: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Title: Sakanoue Tamuramaro in Rain of Arrows
Place Made: Japan
Date Made: 1876
Period: Meiji period (1868-1912)
Medium: Color woodblock print
Dimensions: Image: 12 5/8 × 8 1/8 in. (32.07 × 20.64 cm) Sheet: 14 × 9 3/16 in. (35.56 × 23.34 cm)
Credit Line: Herbert R. Cole Collection
Accession Number: M.84.31.248
Classification: Prints
Collecting Area: Japanese Art
Curatorial Notes: When an event of great importance in the world occurs, it is said that the grave of Sakanoue Tamuramaro shakes mysteriously, a superstition arising from Sakanoue's central role in Japanese history. As Japan's first shogun in the late 8th century, Sakanoue served three different emperors with unfaltering fidelity. His legend was especially popular during Yoshitoshi's time, when the Meiji government promoted the emperor as a living emblem of Japanese culture and encouraged the country to serve him in any way possible. Here, we see Sakanoue directing a dense line of arrows toward an unseen enemy, most likely the Ainu, whom his emperor intended to force into submission. The rain of arrows in the name of the emperor symbolizes the intense nationalism of Meiji Japan as well as illustrating Sakanoue's potency as a military leader.