Japanese Art

[Jmhale]

Found this today at a garage sale. Can someone help translate?

[SteveM]

The British Museum has done most of the hard work

Title of the print is "Genpei Eiyu Kurabe" (written down the far left side of the print). It means "Comparison of the Heroes of the Genpei War". It's a series of prints feature legendary heroes. 

 

Next to that is "Kajiwara Genta Kagesue", which is the name of the hero in this picture - the one on the left. 

 

The other bits are explained on the page below

https://www.britishm...t/A_1906-1220-0-1352

 

 

[Jmhale]

Thank you for your help SteveM.

[Bugyotsuji]

Was Genta left-handed or ambidextrous, I wonder?

[Baka Gaijin]

Good morning Old Bean

 

"Was Genta left-handed or ambidextrous, I wonder?"

 

He is holding in the correct manner, he's just let go of the right hand to give himself a cut advantage to the femoral artery area of his hapless chum's Sune.

 

Perhaps try it with a stick next time you are kitted up, and you'll see how much distance you obtain by doing so.

[Bugyotsuji]

Hmmmm… when you say that, the print suddenly makes sense! 
 

[Jmhale]

Could it be an original block print?

[Baka Gaijin]

Hi Jon,

 

It looks to be correct.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

The name of the guy on the right is missing…(?)

[Baka Gaijin]

Here's another in the series.

 

It really looks like the artist had observed practical  swordsmanship tenouchi rather than fancy Kabuki style.

 

[Wangzi]

源平英雄競

源平 means “源平合戰”， which is a war between two Japanese nobility families “源氏”（genji）and “平氏”（peji）in the year of BC 1880-1885. “競”  simply means battle or deul. So "源平英雄競" means a deul between two heros during the war.

 

尾原源太景李 should be the name of the left samurai.

画 means painted by. 一壽齋业万員，should be the painter's name. 

 

Here confused me a bit, becoz he used both tradional and simplified chinese characters in the signiture, dont know why.

 

 

[Wangzi]

sorry. the year of 1180-1185

[SteveM]

1 hour ago, Wangzi said:

“競”  simply means battle or deul. So "源平英雄競" means a deul between two heros during the war.

 

In this case, 競 means comparison. The meaning is clarified by the furigana くらべ next to the character. This particular print is part of a series which shows a number of heroes from the Genpei wars. 

 

The artist's name is Ichijūsai Yoshikazu  (一壽齋芳員). This is a woodblock print, so a bit different from a painting. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Also Genpei/Gempei indicates the power struggles between Gen (源 the Minamoto clan) and Hei (平...H changes to P in second syllable, so -pei, i.e. the Taira clan, or Hei-Shi)

[Stephen]

[Stephen]

5 hours ago, Stephen said:

Would make a great tattoo,  eh?

If my skin wasn't crepe I'd get a  Large one on my back.