Description This poignant historical triptych depicts one of the most beloved and emotionally resonant episodes in the entire canon of Japanese loyalist legend — the farewell instruction given by the great general Kusunoki Masashige to his young son Masatsura at Sakurai Station, on the eve of the battle in which Masashige knew he would meet his death. The composition unfolds across three sheets with carefully calibrated emotional and spatial progression: in the distant left background, a small procession of mounted figures and attendants departs along the road, suggesting the wider military context of the moment. Closer in, two seated warriors converse beside a tall halberd planted upright in the ground, while in the lower left foreground, a young boy in vivid red robes — the youthful Masatsura — kneels attentively beside an older retainer, his small frame and bright costume immediately distinguishing him as the emotional centre of the narrative's tragic dimension. At the centre of the composition, Kusunoki Masashige himself stands in full and magnificently rendered armour — golden helmet crowned with crescent ornament, layered lamellar plates in red, gold, blue and black, bow and arrows at his back — his powerful figure dominating the scene with quiet, resolute gravity. To the right, beneath a dramatically rendered ancient pine whose dark, swirling foliage echoes the stylised black pine forms appearing elsewhere in the composition, a second seated warrior in blue and gold armour receives final words or instruction, his attentive posture conveying the weight of the moment being enacted. The story of Sakurai Station is among the most celebrated episodes of loyalist devotion in Japanese history, drawn from the fourteenth-century wars between the Northern and Southern courts. Kusunoki Masashige, having received what he understood to be a strategically unsound order from Emperor Go-Daigo to engage superior enemy forces at the Battle of Minatogawa, nonetheless resolved to obey out of absolute loyalty, recognising that he would likely not survive the engagement. Before departing for what would prove to be his final battle, he is said to have paused at Sakurai Station to instruct his young son Masatsura in the principles of loyalty and duty, sending the boy home to await the day when he too might serve the imperial cause — a scene that became, particularly during the Meiji period's revival of imperial loyalist ideology, one of the most frequently depicted and didactically celebrated moments in the entire repertoire of Japanese historical subject matter, taught in schools and reproduced across countless prints, paintings and decorative objects as the supreme model of paternal instruction and selfless loyalty to the throne. This print's careful staging of the emotional core of the story — Masashige's commanding presence, the attentive figure of his son, and the surrounding warriors who witness the moment — reflects the Meiji-period investment in this narrative as a foundational text of modern Japanese national and moral education. The artist's handling of the landscape, particularly the dramatic stylised pine forms that punctuate the composition, lends the scene an atmosphere of solemn, almost sacred gravity appropriate to its status as one of the central moral exemplars of the loyalist tradition. Artist Rosetsu (呂雪), working in the Meiji period, contributed to the substantial body of historical and didactic printmaking that flourished in the decades following the Restoration, as artists and educators sought to construct a visual canon of moral exemplars drawn from Japan's loyalist and imperial historical tradition. The Sakurai Station narrative, among the most celebrated of these subjects, attracted treatment from numerous artists of the period, reflecting its central place in Meiji-era moral and historical education. Condition Condition as shown in the photographs. Trimmed Creases Stains Soiling Repairs Age-related wear consistent with an antique woodblock print. Please examine the photographs carefully before bidding. Shipping The artwork will be carefully packed and shipped via EMS. Shipping will be arranged within approximately 10–14 days after payment confirmation. Please note that customs duties, VAT, and any import taxes imposed by the destination country are the responsibility of the buyer. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation regarding international shipping procedures.