Ukiyo-e Prints

浮世絵版画

formerly Port Townsend, Washington

now Kansas City, Missouri

UTAGAWA YOSHIIKU

歌川芳幾

1833-1904

Series Title: Heroes from the Chronicles of the Taiheiki

太平記英勇傳

Subject: Kikkawa Motoharu

菊川(吉川)元春

1530-1586

Date: 1867, 4th Month

Keiō 3

Size: 9 3/4" x 7 1/4"

Publisher: Hiroya Kosuke

広岡屋幸助

This is #63 of the series.

There are other copies of this print in the

collections of the Universided de Zaragoza

and Ritsumeikan University.

$155.00

SOLD!

The text reads:

芸州山形郡新城の城主菊川貞常の養子　

実は元就の二男　

大江三家の一チ人　

為人簾直にして胆略あり　

照元高景高松の役に秀吉と和を做せと独り元春不可　

秀吉志を得るにおよび其下に出るをはぢ長子元長を嗣として隠居す　

豊公九州発向のをり西討は重事なり元春老たりと雖先鋒を命ずべしと　

依て辞する事あたはずして先途にすゝめど病ひ発してつひに卒す　

山仝亭有人

Kikkawa Motoharu (1530-1586) became the clan leader at just 20 years old. In various wars he proved his worth

for war and fought with his brother Kobayakawa Takakage. Takakage was physical strength and Motoharu the brain.

He allied himself with Toyotomi Hideyoshi. He is considered one of the most prominent leaders of the Mōri clan. He appears

as a great lord of the Mōri clan with a solemn attitude and a serious and balanced face. Its black lacquer seat with gold ornamentation

denotes the status of the character. The sword is protected by a tiger skin sheath. It is a contained, serene and harmonic print.

The text is taken from a loose translation from Spanish

in a paper on the collection of the Universidad Zaragoza.

KIKKAWA MOTOHARU

吉川元春

Motoharu was the second son of Mori Motonari (1497-1571 毛利元就) a powerful daimyo who controlled a large part of western Honshū and even parts of Kyūshū and Shikoku. The father's power even rivaled that of Oba Nobunaga. But he was not only a great tactician and warrior but he was shrewd too. He made sure that two of his sons, one of whom was Motoharu, were adopted by neighboring lords as their heirs. There are two very telling stories about Motonari. At a time when the nation was in turmoil and the Imperial Court was so impoverished that the new Emperor Ōgimachi (1517-93 正親町 or ) had to postpone his own coronation ceremonies Motonari paid the expenses which won him special praise and honors. There is also the "...well-known anecdote [which] concerns his use of three arrows to show his sons the strength of alliance: each arrow could be broken separately, but the three arrows when held tightly together could not be broken."

ANOTHER WONDERFUL

LITTLE CLUE

RIGHT UNDER OUR NOSES

SO TO SPEAK

While doing research on Motoharu and his father I ran across the family crest for the Mōri clan. And voila, Motoharu is seated on a lacquer stool decorated with that crest or mon (紋). The inclusion of this subtle little element speaks to the intelligence of the artist of this print.