Utagawa Kuniyoshi - 101 Great Samurai Prints

1. Oda Nobunaga. Samurai Oda Nobunaga in a moment of focused rage, tearing down a tent curtain decorated with the crest of his treacherous vassal Akechi Mitsuhide. He wears the samurais traditional dual swords, one longer and one shorter, and carries a quiver of arrows on his back. The tiger fur covering his long scabbard confirms Nobunagas high status as a warlord.

2. Imagawa Yoshimoto. Yoshimoto is shown holding a samurai commanders saihai, a baton, in his right hand, and wearing a helmet decorated with fierce-looking horns. Standing in front of a wooden stockade, confirming that this is a battlefield scene, Yoshimotos posture and expression convey the anxiety which even the fiercest samurai could feel in the face of an approaching enemy. Yoshimoto was indeed killed in battle. On the left, tied to the stockade, is the samurais yaguraotoshi, a long-handled weapon used in attacking castles that ends in a crescent-shaped metal point.

3. Shibata Shurinosuke Katsuie. Shibata is depicted destroying his own troops water vessel, an act he indeed carried out to focus his warriors spirits in a successful battle. Above the samurais left shoulder is his personal standard, decorated with paper streamers.

4. Sait Toshimasa ny d D san. The samurai is wearing a large hat to facilitate spying on Oda Nobunaga in a situation away from the battlefieldSait was trying to determine for himself if Nobunaga would make an acceptable son-in-law. The richness of his cloaks decoration, as well as the tiger fur scabbard, confirm Sait s status as a powerful warlord.

5. Takenaka Hanbee Shigeharu. Takenaka is surrounded by the attributes of a highly intellectual advisor to a military commander, including the scrolls on the sideboard and the celestial globe in the armillary sphere. Study of the disposition of heavenly bodies played a major role in the planning of the samurais military actions, confirmed here by the stars in the night sky above the interior scene.

6. Sait Uheenotay Tatsuoki. The samurai seems to be successfully warding off enemy arrows with his sword, but the helmet and armor on the ground beside him indicate that the warrior knew the end was near. In a hopeless situation with his troops outmanned, Sait Tatsuoki removed his armor and committed suicide.

7. Asai Nagamasa. Sitting on a campstool covered with a tiger pelt, Asai turns toward the source of the spear being thrust in his direction from the lower right. Another samurai sits behind him holding the severed head of a defeated enemy, no doubt for presentation to his commander. Holding a writing implement in his right hand, with paper on the ground before him, this warrior may either be preparing to compose a record of the battle just ended, or writing a farewell poem, an act often preceding a samurais suicide as might be required by what happened on the battlefield that day.

8. Asakura Saemonnokami Yoshikage. Continuing a theme which runs through many of Keniyoshis samurai prints, Asakura Yoshikage prepares to commit suicide after finding himself in a hopeless battlefield situation, betrayed by his vassals and his household. After placing his helmet and armor on the ground, the samurai is cutting away his garments. At the lower left is a portable table with cups for sake, perhaps to be used at a ceremonial farewell feast prior to the final act of suicide.

9. Akechi Mitsuhide. The samurai in repose with the elegant accoutrements of a warrior. The book on the lectern is open to a text by the Chinese philosopher Mencius concerning the consequences of a rulers disregard of his subjects, no doubt a reference to the cause of Akechis revolt against Oda Nobunaga, one of the key events of this period. Akechis katana, his longer sword, is on the elegant rack behind the seated samurai.

10. Isono Tanba-no kami Kazumasa. The samurai is sitting on his campstool in front of his sashimono, his personal standard in the shape of a lions head with golden strips representing the mane. The commanders fan hanging from his long sword is decorated with cosmological signs from the I Ching, reflecting the philosophical knowledge expected of an intellectual military thinker.

11. Sakai Ukon Masanao. The samurai depicted is in a heroic and ferocious pose, his sword out of the scabbard and ready as he turns to face the enemy which pursues him. The dragon on his cloak is a symbol of invincible power. Following a brutal defeat, however, Sakai Masanao committed suicide on the battlefield.