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The Prints

Print 11-1. Hachiman Taro Yoshiie Visiting the Wife of a Monk

Oban triptych by Kuniyoshi, published by Fujiokaya Hikotaro ca. 1844-48.

Hachiman Taro -- the name means `Eldest Son of the God of War' -- was the sobriquet of Minamoto no Yoshiie (1039-1106), one of the great heroes of Japanese military history and legend. In 1081 he was called upon to help defend the temples of Hieizan, near Kyoto, from an attack by contentious warrior-monks of a rival sect at Miidera. He also loved to play go and had a reputation as a womanizer.

In this adventure Yoshiie has sneaked into the mansion of a monk (the man on the right), who had placed a go board on the edge of the balcony, intending to cause Yoshiie to stumble over it, whereupon he hoped to kill him. Yoshiie, however, deftly jumped onto the balcony, sliced off a corner of the board with his sword and brazenly entered the wife's room. The startled and frightened monk then ran away, saying This is no ordinary man.

This print may be an illustration of a scene in a kabuki drama. (The Tempo Reforms of 1842 prohibited the usual identification of actors in such prints as this one.)

Print 11-2. Hachiman Taro Yoshiie

Oban print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, published by Tsunajima Kamekichi ca. 1883. From a series titled Yoshitoshi Mushaburui (Yoshitoshi's Warriors Trembling with Courage).

In this picture Hachiman Taro is portrayed exuberantly springing into action. It may be imagined that a monk is fleeing in terror off to the right.

Print 11-3. Quarrel over a Game of Go

Oban triptych by Kuniyoshi, published by Kawa-Cho, 1848-54. The title is Kenkyu no hajime Kamakura no tachi ni shoshi taikei. . . (At the Beginning of the Kenkyu Period in the Kamakura Mansion . . .)

The scene is a party in the headquarters of the Shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo in Kamakura. Mt. Fuji rises in the background. This quarrel between Kudo Suketsune (drawing his sword at right) and Sasaki Nobutsuna (being restrained at left) probably occurred in the 1180s, but the circumstances are unclear. Suketsune, who was a vassal of Yoritomo, died in 1193 at the hands of the Soga brothers, Juro and Goro, whose father he had killed in 1175. The Soga brothers plotted their revenge for 18 years, and it is one of the most famous vendettas in Japanese history. The story was extremely popular in the Edo era and it was adapted for Noh, the puppet theatre, and especially kabuki, where more than 300 dramatic and emotional scripts were written and performed every New Year in all three kabuki theatres in Edo. (Also see Print 7-15.)

Print 11-4. Hatakeyama Shigetada Seated by a Go Board

Oban print by Kuniyoshi, published by Iseya Ichibei ca. 1844-48. From the series Genji Kumo Ukiyo-e Awase (Pictures of the Floating World Matched with Chapters of Genji).

Shigetada (1164-1205) was a high-ranking general who fought on the side of Minamoto no Yoritomo and, after the latter's death in 1199, became an adviser to Yoritomo's young son Yoriie. The print is subtitled Kiri-tsubo, the title of the first chapter of The Tale of Genji, in which the upbringing of the young Prince Genji is described. Yoriie, like the prince, was accomplished in literary studies and had a reputation for being devoted to venereal pleasures. Shigetada in this print seems to have been teaching him go, and the boy in frustration has scattered the stones over the board.

Print 11-5. Oguri Hangan on Horseback

Oban print by Kunisada (signing as Toyokuni III), published by Joshuya Kinzo, 1844-1846.

Oguri Hangan Daisukeshige (1398-1464) was the son of a provincial lord who had been dispossessed of his estates by the Ashikaga clan. He led an extremely adventurous life when young, but eventually settled down and led a quiet life. He was famous for his horsemanship and was reputed to be able to make a horse stand with all four hooves on a go board. The small scene at the upper left, signed by the artist's pupil Kunimasa, presumably shows the Oguri family's arch-enemy, the Ashikaga Shogun Yoshimitsu.

Print 11-6. Oguri Hangan on Horseback

An oban print by Tsunanobu. Publisher and date unknown.

In this artist's rendition Oguri Hangan has coaxed his horse to mount the go board.

Print 11-7. Horsemen Exhibiting Their Skills

Oban triptych by Kuniteru, published by Tsujiokaya Bunsuke in 1872.

A depiction of various feats of horsemanship. The rider in the left panel (see detail from a better impression of this print) is demonstrating his skill by causing his horse to mount a go board.

Print 11-8. General Kobayakawa Takakage

Oban print by Kuniyoshi, published by Yamamotoya Heikichi, ca. 1848-49.

This print is from the series Taiheiki Eiyu Den (Lives of the Heroes of the Taiheiki), a chronicle of the 14th-century struggle against the Ashikaga dynasty. In conformity with government regulations against identifying persons of high rank in woodblock prints, this eminent warrior's name is given as Koayakawa Takakane, and in the short biography above his head his life is assigned to a different historical epoch. In fact born in 1533, Kobayakawa Takakage earned a high reputation in battle, entered the service of the great warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi, became Lord of Chikuzen, campaigned in Korea, and died in 1597. The go board by his side is intended to indicate his deep insight into military strategy.

Print 11-9. Motoharu and the Severed Head

Oban print by Yoshitoshi, published by Sanoya Tomigoro in 1867. From the series Eimei Niju-hachi Shuku (28 Famous Poems).

The lengthy background inscription in the left portion of the picture relates an interesting ghost story:

It seems that Yurugi Motoharu, governor of the fief of Tamba, a region near Osaka, was not only accomplished in swordsmanship and literature but also was extremely fond of go. Hearing that a certain blind monk¹ in his domain was a skillful player, Motoharu invited him to have a game. The monk played well but tactlessly, even jeering at some of Motoharu's moves. The result was that the young lord lost his temper, drew his sword, and decapitated the monk with one blow -- thus, as the text says, punning on technical go terms, finding the vital spot with a move that proved more decisive than all the kos and ladders that the other had been able to think up, with the result that even though his stones had eyes, the eyeless monk lost the game.

After this, the monk's ghost began to make a nuisance of itself by poking its head over the garden wall and whining How about another game? Just one more game? Finally one of Motoharu's retainers arranged for a solemn burial service for the monk. With his spirit thus placated, the ghost appeared no more.

The haiku in the narrow panel to the left of the title reads:

Heat ripples
in the field that was drenched
by autumn rain.

Print 11-10. Ronin Adjusting His Sandal

Oban print by Kuniyoshi, published by Ebiya Rinnosuke, 1847.

From the very popular series Seichu Gishi Den (Lives of the True and Faithful Samurai), which illustrate moments during the final attack by the celebrated Forty-Seven Ronin as they make a room-to-room search through the mansion of the villain responsible for their lord's death. A samurai who had lost his master was called a ronin, meaning `wave man', someone at the mercy of the current. Their vendetta was successful, but it was climaxed by their mass suicide in the year 1703. The name of the warrior on this print appears as Onodera Toemon Hidetome (his real name was Onodera Koemon Hidetomi but was changed here to conform with regulations against identifying famous persons in woodblock prints), who is shown tying the cord of his sandal on a go board, overturned during the hunt. Over his suit of mail he wears a cloak with the white-on-black `dog's tooth' pattern, ever since associated with their exploit.

Print 11-11. Two Boys Playing with a Go Board

Hosoban print by Shunsho, published by Kichi-Mura, ca. 1780.

As those who have looked at Chapter 7 will recognize, these young men are acting out the climactic scene in a play about the 12th-century hero `Go-Board' Tadanobu. They probably saw the play in a performance by one of the many companies of kabuki actors who used to travel through the provinces, giving country people a taste of the nation's favorite form of entertainment.

Print 11-12. Daidozan Bungoro Extinguishing a Candle with a Go Board

Oban print by Toshusai Sharaku, published by Tsutaya Juzaburo in 1795.

Daidozan Bungoro's fame as a sumo wrestler began when, as a child, he began to appear with adult wrestlers in the opening ceremonies of sumo tournaments. He was supposed to have performed incredible feats of strength, such as the one in this print, where he is shown at age eight extinguishing a candle flame by improbably waving a go board of considerable weight in front of it. Although Daidozan eventually became a full-fledged wrestler, he failed to live up to the expectations everyone had of him, ending his career with rather mediocre results.

Print 11-13. A Rainy Day at Home

Double-page album illustration by Tsutsumi Torin (signing as Tokan), published by Tsutaya Juzaburo in 1798. From the kyoka (comic or satirical poems) poetry album Otoko Toka (Men's Rustic Dances).

The scene is rather unusual: the interior of the house of a well-to-do farmer. Father and grandfather are playing go while mother dresses her child and a servant returns home through the rain with something for dinner. Torin was a friend of several artists of the Ukiyo-e school but worked in a quiet, naturalistic style of his own.

Print 11-14. An Actor Playing Go

Fan print by Toyokuni, published by Ibaya Sensaburo ca. 1810s. Subtitled Go, from the set Yakusha Gei Zukushi (Artistic Accomplishments of Actors).

The famous actor Matsumoto Koshiro V is shown here at the go board wearing an informal summer kimono with a pattern of gingko leaves in reverse on a lavender ground. The inscription, signed Tokutei Sanko, compares those who raptly watch this actor in the theater to the woodcutter watching the two immortals at go (see Chapter 1). It adds, He is such a strong player that nobody in all of Edo would protest if he called himself Kibi Daijin. However the kyoka poem ending the inscription has satirical overtones.

Print 11-15. The Nine Old Men of Incense Mountain

Surimono print with metallic pigments by Gakutei Gogaku, privately published ca. 1823.

A commemorative surimono for a group of kyoka poets known as the Katsushika Circle. This is one of an unusual example of sets on the theme announced as Meisu Juban (Ten Famous Numbers), this representing, of course, the number nine. The title as given in the cartouche printed in red in the upper right corner is Kozan Kyuro (The Nine Old Men of Incense Mountain). The two kyoka poems are:

Crayfish and
White-hairs are playing a ko;
in Horai
youthful spring defers
to old age.
-- Matsukaze Nokicho

Black hair-oil
they apply to recover
their youth;
on a spring day the snow
on old men's heads disappears.
-- Matsumune Chieda

`Crayfish' is a complimentary epithet for old age because, though it appears whiskery and hunched, its flesh is sweet. A ko is a special situation in go where a stone can be captured and recaptured almost endlessly, thus making time stand still, as it were (ko is also the Japanese term for the Buddhist kalpa, meaning `eons' or `long ages'). Horai is the Japanese equivalent of the Isles of the Blest, a place where people remain forever young.

The two poems maintain an interesting balance between the ideas of Horai and Japan, winter and spring, age and youth, white and black -- ultimately, Yin and Yang. In the first poem spring's arrival waits until the old men have concluded their game, the suggestion being that in this way White achieves a victory over Black. In the second, the scales tip the other way: white hairs regain their youthful color, indicating that Black wins.

Incense Mountain in the title of this print is Hsiang-shan, near the old capital of Loyang in China, where the great T'ang poet Po Chu-i built a retreat in which to entertain eight of his friends. By alluding to them the `Nine Old Men' of the title becomes a graceful compliment to members of the Katsushika Club, intimating that they, too, perhaps rank with such immortals.

Po Chu-i's poems were immensely popular in Japan; his Collected Works were being read there even during his lifetime. This print, in which the shapes of the old men and their garments seem to melt into the dappled lights and shadows of the design, could aptly serve as an illustration to the following poem by him:

Mountain monks sit playing go.
Over the board is the bamboo's lucent shade.
No one sees them through the glittering leaves,
But now and then is heard the click of a stone.

Gakutei, who designed the print, was not only an artist but also a scholar and essayist. He is said to have been especially fond of Chinese literature.

Print 11-16. Shunga Calendar Print

Miniature surimono with metallic pigments, by Kunisada, privately published for the year 1829.

Japan operated on a lunar-solar calendar that had to be recalculated every year in accordance with astronomical and astrological principles. The government assigned the monopoly of printing the annual calendar (customarily an elaborate production the size of a small book) to certain specialist publishers, but the most important information they provided were the months determined by the government to be long (30 days) and short (29 days) and, every few years, where an intercalary or extra month had to be inserted. All these details differed unpredictably from year to year. A number of artists took a special pleasure in designing calendar prints (e-goyomi) whose subjects seemed to be quite unrelated to calendars but in which the necessary information was concealed in some manner or conveyed as if by accident, thus getting around the restrictions. The first full-color woodblock prints, those designed by Harunobu in 1765, were of this sort.

The scene of this little print is laid in a house in the pleasure quarters of Edo. The long months of the year 1829 (2, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11, 12) are visible on the side of the go board, looking as if they had been scribbled there by some child or an intoxicated guest. The punning series title at the upper right is Kyogen awase juni-shiko (The Twelve Zodiac Animals, Reconsidered, Matched With Plays).

1829 was a Bull Year, and the man is exhibiting parts almost taurine in their proportions, much to the admiration of an attendant courtesan. He is, in fact, the great kabuki actor Matsumoto Koshiro V (1764-1838), whose piercing eyes and high-bridged nose can be recognized in hundreds of prints of this period -- we have already seen him on a fan print (Print 11-14 above). The go board links the main subject with the scene in the small panel in the background, where he is shown in the role of Daizen, the villain of the play Kinkakuji (The Temple of the Golden Pavilion) (see Chapter 8). A golden dragon appears in this scene. The word for dragon in Japanese is tatsu, the homophone of another word meaning `to have an erection' (this particular pun may be the oldest and most loved pun in the language).

Print 11-17. Three Actors Around a Go Board

A horizontal oban print by Kunisada (signing as Toyokuni III), published by Shin'iseya Kohei ca. 1832.

An actor print of the kabuki play San Puku Tsui Goban Zoroe (A Set of Three Coming Together Around a Go Board). The play probably wasn't very popular in that it had few performances. The story is unknown. The actors (from left to right, Nakamura Shikan, Sawamura Totsusho, and Bando Hidetomo) are wearing similar kimono with designs depicting black and white go stones on backgrounds patterned as go boards, serving to emphasize the go theme of the play.

Print 11-18. Actors on a Picnic Boat

Oban triptych by Kunisada (signing as Toyokuni III), published by Enshuya Hikobei, 1848-54.

A party of actors enjoy a summer outing on the Sumida River in Edo. Their boat has the auspicious characters O-iri (Smash Hit!) painted on the front. The man at the far right playing go with a grim smile on his face is the great kabuki star Danjuro VIII. The man holding an umbrella in the shallow water near the prow is mimicking a type of water-festival dance, and the men keeping cool on the roof are low-ranking actors or stage hands.

Print 11-19. Puppet on a Go Board

Koban print by Hiroshige, published by Wakasaya Yoichi in 1854.

There was a popular entertainment performed by itinerant showmen in Edo times in which mechanical figures or hand-operated puppets were made to dance on a go board. The diary of the actor Sadoshima Chogoro (1700-57) mentions a live dance based on this custom:

Ever since my fifth year I was taught dancing by my father Dempachi. He took me to Edo and had me do a doll act on a go board. We had engagements all over the place, and worked from Spring to the ninth month. I attracted the attention of a certain gentleman and was frequently summoned by him to dance my go-board dance. So great was his regard for me that he ordered some pottery figures of myself sitting on a go board to be made in Hizen, and they pleased him so much that he had three of them made and delivered to him. When we were travelling to Kyoto in the tenth month of that year, word got around about my go-board doll dance, and I was asked to do it at every inn we stayed at. I always complied with these requests. When I reached my ninth year I was no longer able to perform on a go board. ²

Print 11-20. The Puppet-Handler with a Geisha on a Go Board

A surimono print designed by Hokusai. Privately issued in 1820 for members of a poetry club.

The origin of featuring puppets on go boards is unclear, but it became quite popular in the Edo era, especially between 1688 and 1736. Eventually this practice evolved to where child kabuki actors would dance on top of a board (see commentary to Print 11-19), and later it even became a custom for geisha and their customers to dance upon them.

Print 11-21. Kabuki Actor in Costume

Oban print by Kunisada II, published by Iseya Kanekichi in 1865.

The actor's garment shows an unusual pattern of go stones and grid on which are superimposed shogi pieces bearing syllables of the mantra Namu Amida Butsu. The play is Tsuru no Chitose Soga no Kadomatsu (Praying for a Long and Prosperous Life), performed in 1865 at the Ichimura Theater in Edo. The actor here is Ichikawa Danzo VI, playing the role of Muji Namuemon.

Print 11-22. Saigo Takamori Playing Go Before His Last Battle

Oban print by Utagawa Kunimasa IV, published in 1878 (publisher's name illegible).

Saigo Takamori's plan to invade Korea was frustrated by Count Okubo. (See Print 4-5.) At the beginning of 1877, in the belief that the Emperor Meiji was being misled by bad advice, he mounted a rebellion against the government. The revolt failed abysmally and Saigo committed suicide in his stronghold in Kagoshima in September of that year.

A notice displayed on a bamboo pole at the right of this design proclaims this to be the Main Camp of Saigo Takamori. An excited guard has just deposited the heads of two unfortunate comrades on the veranda, shouting That's just the way I found them! Saigo himself is shown calmly playing go while awaiting the final attack of the Imperial Army, whose banners are visible beyond the walls.

Though much that is depicted here is the product of the artist's imagination, it is a matter of historical record that Saigo did spend his last days talking with a few faithful companions, exchanging poems, and playing go.

Print 11-23. Actors at Play

Oban triptych by Ginko, published by Gusokuya in 1875.

The title is Haiyu Zashiki Asobi no Zu (A Picture of Pastimes in the Actors' Sitting Room). In the center foreground we see Ichikawa Danjuro IX playing go with Bando Hikosaburo V. At the left two more actors are playing shogi, while others are amusing themselves with neck-wrestling contests.

Print 11-24. A Performance at the Shintomi Theater

Oban triptych by Utagawa Kunimasa IV, published by Gusokuya in 1878.

Titled above the stage Shintomiza Honbushin Shuttai Aki Kyogen Kembutsu Gunshu no Zu (A View of the Crowds Watching the Autumn Performance in the Completed Main Building of the Shintomi Theater), this design celebrates a performance at the most important kabuki theater of its time, after its reconstruction in 1878. In the center where the stage is located, small paper panels are affixed that can be raised to display different scenes. The first depiction here shows the curtain lowered, the second reveals it raised on a scene from an unidentified play (seemingly on the theme of the Temple of the Golden Pavilion [see Chapter 8] when Tokichi is brought bound into Daizen's presence while he is playing a game of go).

Print 11-25. An Actor in Costume

Koban print by Kunihide, published ca. 1909. Publisher unidentified.

Shown here is Ichikawa Sadanji II in costume for a revival of the play Kenuki (The Tweezers), a play (more precisely, a scene from a longer play) that had first been performed in 1742. The play has nothing to do with go, and the reason Sandanji chose this costume was that another actor, Ichikawa Danjuro V, had worn it in the performance of this play in 1794. Kenuki is rarely, if ever, performed nowadays.

Print 11-26. An Actor in Costume

Oban print by Torii Tadamasa, published by Shokokusha ca. 1930s.

Ichikawa Sadanji II is again portrayed in a performance of Kenuki in 1909. This print was published some 20 years after the one above. The costume is the same as in Print 11-25, but for some reason Tadamasa chose not to render the stones on the board.

Print 11-27. Commander Uchida Playing Go

Oban print by Ogata Gekko, published in 1895. Published Yokoyama Ryohachi.

From a series Paragons of Glory, depicted is an episode from the Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) where Commander Uchida of the Japanese Imperial Navy unhurriedly finishes a game of go despite having been informed of the presence of the enemy. The print is unique for the appearance of an English caption in the upper left, complete with a misspelling: Commander Uchida, J.I.N. Paying Go in front of His Enemy.

Print 11-28. Actor Wearing a Kimono

Oban print by Toyokuni, published by Kiya Sojiro. Date unknown.

The kabuki actor Iwagawa Jirokichi wearing a kimono with a go pattern.

Notes

1. This is the first time I have come across mention of a blind go player, although blind shogi (Japanese chess) players are well known in Japan, and there are popular tales about the blind swordsman Zatoichi.
   
   
2. From The Actors' Analects by Dunn and Torigoe, p. 140.