YOSHITOSHI . Jōganden Moon . 月之百态 . 正宗日本木版画 - 日本 - Meiji period (1868-1912)

拯救皇帝的弓手——在秋月下，一箭射倒的恶魔公鹿

TSUKIOKA YOSHITOSHI (1839–1892)
Title: 月百姿 貞観殿月 源経基 (Jōganden no tsuki – Minamoto no Tsunemoto), Jōganden Moon: Minamoto no Tsunemoto

Series: Tsuki Hyakushi (月百姿) — One Hundred Aspects of the Moon; Stevenson no. 44
Date: Meiji 19 (1886) — red date cartouche 御届明治十九年六月五日 printed in the left margin
Publisher: Akiyama Buemon (秋山武右衛門)
Format: Ōban tate-e — approx. 36 × 24 cm
Technique: Woodblock print (mokuhanga), polychrome (nishiki-e)
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Condition

A strong impression, with excellent colour throughout. The sheet carries an album backing. The publication block is perserved: date cartouche, guild seals, the artist's own address seal, and the Akiyama Buemon / Kokkeidō.
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The Scene

Minamoto no Tsunemoto (894–961) was a high-ranking courtier of the tenth century. He was known both as a poet of tanka and as an outstanding archer. He was a grandson of Emperor Seiwa and founded the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto clan. The three great shogunal houses of Japan, the Minamoto, the Ashikaga and the Tokugawa, all claimed descent from this line. Tsunemoto is the root of the warrior dynasties that ruled Japan for most of the following thousand years.

The Jōganden in the title was a wing of the imperial palace in Kyoto. The legend goes like this. On a moonlit autumn night in 932, Emperor Suzaku (Shujaku) was walking in the palace gardens. A demon in the form of a huge stag appeared on the roof of the Jōganden and was about to leap down on him. Tsunemoto was present and killed the creature with a single kaburaya, a "turnip-headed" whistling arrow, between the eyes. Yoshitoshi shows the courtier from behind, just after he has fired the shot. This is one of the most dramatic warrior designs in the series.
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The Series — Yoshitoshi's Late Masterpiece

Tsuki Hyakushi (One Hundred Aspects of the Moon), published by Akiyama Buemon between 1885 and 1892, is universally regarded as the crowning achievement of Yoshitoshi's career and one of the last great monuments of the ukiyo-e tradition. Across one hundred designs drawn from history, legend, literature, and — as here — the living festival culture of Edo, the moon serves as the unifying thread. This sheet, published in June 1886 during the strong early run of the series, preserves the full publication block in the margin: the red date cartouche and the Akiyama Buemon address.

Yoshitoshi trained under Utagawa Kuniyoshi and is widely regarded as the last great master of ukiyo-e. Impressions of this design are held by the Library of Congress, the National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian), the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and other major collections.