** One of Kuniyoshi's most celebrated and influential series ** Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳, 1797/98–1861) Series: 高祖御一代略圖 (Sketches of the Life of the Great Priest) Subject: 文永元十一月十一日東條小松原 — Tōjō Komatsubara, the 11th Day of the 11th Month, Bun'ei 1 (1264) — the event known to Nichiren Buddhists as the Komatsubara Persecution, inscribed at right with the exact date of the ambush Date: c. 1835–36 (Tenpō era); the series was commissioned in 1831 for the 550th anniversary of Nichiren's death Publisher: Iseya Rihei (伊勢屋利兵衛 / Ise-Ri, Kinjudō) Technique: Woodblock print (mokuhanga), nishiki-e Format: Ōban yoko-e (single horizontal sheet) — approx. 24 × 36 cm 1. Impression & Colors: A well-inked impression with the colour still good and the composition reading clearly throughout — the deep blue of the distant peak and the graded sky, the fresh greens of the hillside, and the warm orange of Nichiren's robe all retain their strength. The fine work in the crowd of attackers and the radiating crystal-light is crisp. 2. Paper: Toning and handling soiling visible across the sheet, with light wear to the margins, and a few small holes visible in the outer margin. Overall a sound example in fair condition for its age. 3. The Scene — A Saint Ambushed: Kuniyoshi stages the attack at its most violent pitch. Across a green hillside beneath towering cryptomeria, the monk Nichiren stands at the centre in flowing orange robes and — at the very heart of the chaos — raises his crystal mala (prayer beads), from which a brilliant burst of white light radiates outward, dazzling and scattering his assailants. From the right charges Tōjō Kagenobu on horseback, sword drawn; all around, swordsmen and spearmen lunge, stumble and fall, several sprawled wounded across the lower edge. A crouching disciple shelters at Nichiren's side. Against the distant blue mountain and a flight of birds, the foreground writhes with movement — a masterclass in the teeming, theatrical action-composition at which Kuniyoshi had no equal. 4. The Story — The Komatsubara Persecution, 1264 In 1253 Nichiren had publicly proclaimed the supremacy of the Lotus Sutra and condemned the rival Pure Land (Jōdo) school. Tōjō Kagenobu, steward of Tōjō village in Awa Province and a fervent Pure Land believer, nursed a lasting hatred for him and waited for his chance. On the 11th day of the 11th month of 1264, as Nichiren travelled to the home of his disciple Kudō Yoshitaka at Komatsubara, Kagenobu and a band of horsemen and swordsmen ambushed him. In the fighting two of Nichiren's followers were killed; Nichiren himself took a sword cut to the forehead and a broken hand, but escaped with his life. Kuniyoshi shows the legendary heart of the episode — Nichiren confounding his enemies by the force of his crystal rosary — the disciple Nikkyō crouching behind him. By tradition, Kagenobu went mad and died within three days of the attack. 5. The Series — The Life of a Saint Kōso go-ichidai ryakuzu is Kuniyoshi's celebrated set of ten large horizontal prints telling the life of Nichiren (1222–1282), commissioned in 1831 for the 550th anniversary of his death and published by Iseya Rihei in 1835–36. It marks a turning point in Kuniyoshi's art: drawing on the Kishi school of Kawamura Bunpō, he set bold foreground figures against expansive landscape — so admired that one early historian rated his landscape style "perhaps even higher than Hiroshige." Kuniyoshi was himself a Nichiren adherent — his ashes lie at a Nichiren temple — and the Snow at Tsukahara on Sado Island from this series is generally regarded as the finest design of all. This Komatsubara sheet is among the most dramatic of the set, marrying Kuniyoshi's gift for action with devotional subject matter that gave the series broad popular appeal.