Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Tanbe Jijū Taira No Harutaka (丹部待従平春高 - actually Oda Nobutaka), #39 (三十九) from the series Heroes of the Great Peace (Taiheiki eiyūden - 太平記英勇傳)
ca 1848 – 1849
9.875 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher: Yamamotoya Heikichi
(Marks 595 - seal 04-007)
Censor seals: Mera and Murata
Number 39: 三十九
Text: Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員)
Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Legion of Honor
Museum of Oriental Art, Venice (via Ritsumeikan University) Oda Nobutaka (織田信孝: 1558-83) "Third son of Nobunaga was chosen to be heir of the Kambe family (Ise). He establish himself in the castle of the same name (1569). In 1582, he received in fief the 4 provinces of Shikoku, and headed an expedition to Kii against the chief of the Hongwan-ji, Kōsa, who was defeated and slain. On his father's death, hearing that his cousin Nobuzumi had been in league with Akechi Mitsuhide, he attacked him in Ōsaka and put him to death. Shortly after, he was appointed with his brother Nobuo, guardian of young Sambōshi. He resided at Gifu, and governed Mino provinces. His contentions with Nobuo led to war. Nobutaka was besieged in Gifu and took flight, but being pursued by Nakagawa Sadanari and seeing himself on the point of being made prisoner he sought shelter in the Shōhō-ji temple at Noma (Owari) and killed himself."
Quoted from: Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan by E. Papinot, p. 469.
****
Illustrated:
1) in color in The Legacy of Japanese Printmaking/Le Rayonnement de l'estampe Japonaise by Barry Till, the Art Gallery of Victoria, 1986, pl. #IV.
2) in a full-page color reproduction in Heroes of the grand pacification: Kuniyoshi's Taiheiki eiyūden by Elena Varshavskaya, Hotei Publishing, 2005, p. 137.
Varshavskaya, on page 136, gives the translation of the text as:
[Tanbe Jijū Taira-no Harutaka] was Ōta Harunaga's... third son. His mother originated from the Sakauji family of Owari province. By his father's orders [Harutaka] succeeded to the house of Tanbe... After the disaster that had overtaken his father in the capital, [Harutaka] participated in the battle at Yodotsutsumi... to avenge his father's death and thus gained advantage over his elder brother Haruo. It's me who should become the lord of the country' - thought [Harutaka], but as that did not happen, not containing his indignation, he conspired with Chibata... and Tatsugawa... and other warlords and raised the standard of revolt at Gifu castle... As to Haruo who from the very beginning refused [to be at one with them]. they intended to kill him. But the enemy general (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) quickly learned about this. He divided his army into two parts - one part surrounded the castle at Gifu at a distance, and the other attacked the Kanie castle... in Ise province, in which Tatsugawa had secluded himself. Harutaka sent an urgent messenger to the Northern Lands... pleading Tatsuie for reserve forces, but the snow was deep and the horseman failed to come out. So, Tatsugawa's castle Kanie was taken by assault and Chibata perished in Kitanoshō... in Echizen province. Here [Harutaka's] strength came to an end and he asked the storming army for peace and opened the castle. [Harutaka] reached the temple Ōmidoji in Utsumi and Noma in Owari province, but Haruo's army closed in upon them and [Harutaka] finally took his life. At the time of his death he was only twenty-six years of age.Varshavskaya goes on to write: "A Chinese umbrella (karakasa), a sign of the Nobunaga family, crowns the banner. Oda Nobutaka's severe countenance is also emphasised by the protective facemask he is weraring - such masks that covered the chin and cheeks of a warrior are known as hōate.
In endnote 39.1 Varshavskaya adds: "Oda Nobunaga's third son. "Tanbe" is a changed name of Kanbe, Nobutaka's foster family... the alias reflects also the Oda clan's kinship to the clan of the Taira... Oda Nobutaka participated in many of his father's campaigns. After Nobunaga's death, Nobutaka fought with Hideyoshi against Akechi Mistuhide in the battle of Yamazaki... It was on this basis that he believed he had the advantage over his elser brother, Nobuo... who was not involved in avenging Nobunaga's death. Nobutaka believed that this circumstance had secured for him the position of the clan's head and thus of the country's ruler. However, at the historic meeting in the castle of Kiyosu where Nobunaga's descendants and closest vassals were deciding whom to appoint as his heir, Hideyoshi succeeded in convincing he gathering to choose Sanboshi (Oda Hidenobu, 1580-1605), Nobunaga's young grandchild, for this role. Sanboshi was the son of Oda Nobutada, Nobunaga's elder son who perished in the course of the Honnōji affair in his Nijō castle in Kyoto... By this move Hideyoshi gained time to stabilise his political leadership in the country. Dissatisfied with this turn of events, Nobutaka twice went against Hideyoshi. The first time this occurred in 1582 but the matter was settled and peace was made. In 1583 Oda Nobutaka joined the anti-Hideyoshi coalition headed by Shibata Katsuie... The text correctly states that Nobuo, Nobutaka's brother, refused to support the opposition and took Hideyoshi's side. Hideyoshi sent Nobuo to besiege Nobutaka in his castle of Gifu. The attack referred to in the text. The castle fell and Nobutaka escaped, only to commit suicide in the nearest future."
His mother's family's name was Sakauji.
3) in black and white in 'Pictorial formulae of martial attributes in Kuniyoshi's warrior prints' by Elena Varshavskaya in Andon, September 1998, fig. 5, p. 7. Varshavskaya wrote on p. 8: "One of the devices used by the artist to emphasize the heroes' bodily strength was to exaggerate the massiveness of their silhouettes by depicting the warriors in full armour and often from the front."
"Such is the portrait of Kam be Jiju Nobutaka, here called Tambe Jiju Harutaka (fig. 5), Oda Nobunaga 's third son. After the death of his father, Nobutaka sided with Shibata Katsuie, Sasa Narimasa and Takigawa Sakon against Hideyoshi, but he was finally defeated and committed suicide in the fields near Shōhōji temple. Shown from the front, Nobutaka is seated on a camp-stool. The print shows him slightly bent forward as if in a threatening posture; the osode, the rectangular plates for the arm protection and the kusazuri, flaps of the 'skirt' of the armour are turned forward, adding to the solidity of the image. The same goal is served by the banner crowned with a karakasa, or Chinese umbrella, the sign of the Nobunaga family, which forms an integral part of the figure.
4) in black and white in Samurai Heraldry by Stephen Turnbull, Osprey Publishing, 2002, page 58.
Yamamotoya Heikichi (山本屋平吉) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Taiheiki (太平記) (genre)
Ryūkatei Tanekazu (柳下亭種員 - 1807-58) (author)