Samurai Banners

[John A Stuart]

For those interested in Japanese heraldry many more banners have been added to my site. artwork by Evalerio. John

 

http://www.johnstuart.biz/historical_ar ... rai_ba.htm

[Bugyotsuji]

Absolutely brilliant. Stunning work. Many thanks. Look forward to seeing more.

 

How can you get such information?

[John A Stuart]

Evalerio (his art name) is an artist from British Columbia, Canada who gets his info from Japanese sources, mostly paintings and woodblock prints, some from print references and then renders them with graphic programs. He is involved I believe with miniatures for historical diorama collectors. These banners are indespensible for painting miniatures with accurate clan colours and affiliations. john

[doug e lewis]

Hi John,

 

looking thru your samurai banners (super, but i told you that before about your site) a sashimono caught my eye because of the highly styleized cross on it. after a little research is found that Kato Yoshiaki was diamyo of Aizu in the 1620s -1630 something. he served Hydioshi & the Tokagawas in the 1580s & on, considered one of Seven Spears of Ieyasu, etc.

( quick reference sourse: Wikpedia)

 

my question --- his lands were central Honshu, and no indication from what iwas reading that he was a Christian diamyo.... so why the cross? if don't recall [should look it up and rely on shakey memory] it being a symbol in buddhism.

and shinto .... no i don't think so.

 

any thoughts on the matter? (thanks for the heads up re new stuff on your site)

 

doug e

[John A Stuart]

The kato clan had Christian alliances and some of the clan may have followed the Christian faith. ie. Kato Kiyomasa who got half of the Higo domains after the execution of Konishi Yukinaga tried to force Christians in his domain to join the Nichirenshu. Eventually Christians left his domains. A lot of daimyo's gave up their faith. Kato Yoshiaki is not in the list of Christian daimyo.

Omura Sumitada, first Christian feudal lord (1533-1587)

Omura Yoshiaki

Arima Harunobu, Christian name Dom Protasio, Lord of Shimabara (1567-1612)

Arima Naozumi

Kuroda Yoshitaka, Dom Simeao, a chief strategist of Hideyoshi's.

Konishi Yukinaga, Dom Agostinho, chief member of Hideyoshi's field staff (1556-1600)

Dom Justo Takayama Ukon daimyo of Akashi

Dom Leao Gamo Ujisato (1556-1595)

Ōtomo Sōrin (大友 宗麟 1530-1587), Dom Francis, "King of Bungo"

Ōtomo Yoshishige (大友 義鎮)

Ōtomo Yoshimune(大友 義統）, Constantino

Ōtomo Chikaie(大友 親家）, Dom Sebastin

Ōtomo Chikamori(大友 親盛）

Fujiwara no Yoshisige (藤原 義鎮)

Akashi Takenori

Oda Hidenobu, Christian name Peter

Tsugaru Nobuhira

[doug e lewis]

Hi John.

 

so the banner was used at one time before the majority of christen samurai left. maybe before Higo was divided?

 

i was curious as i did recall Kato Yoshiaki on the list of major christian diamyos.

 

might not this sashimono cause some disention in the ranks of samurai not christian.

 

doug e

[John A Stuart]

In the words of the artist.

 

Yoshiaki's banners appear in color plates in two Rekishi Gunzo books. The character 'ju' on his nobori. Turnbull in The Sourcebook described both the tsukaiban and samurai sashimono as black serrated flags. A complete set appears in 'O uma jirushi' with one of the serrated sashimono being white. I've assumed the black one is for a tsukaiban as their sashimono were often different colors from the nobori.

 

John

[doug e lewis]

now i see it. it is the character "+" said "ju" , meaning the number ten.

 

i guess the vertical line looked longer enough to me to confuse my red headed mind.

 

super art work, John. thanks for sharing.

 

doug e

[Bugyotsuji]

doug e, it is more complicated than that. The cross in Japanese is "Juji", which can also mean 'the character for 10'. As in Juji-gun (crusader armies) and Seki-juji, The Red Cross.

 

There is a long history, part of which has been discussed on this site and elsewhere. Some families wanted it to mean the Christian cross, but then back-pedalled when Christianity was outlawed, and denied it thrice. Oh, our cross is actually 10, see how the brushwork is different, or, Oh, our cross is actually the crossed metalwork for a horse's bit, or Oh, our family were using it before the recent wave of Christian missionaries, etc., etc., etc. Some of them were deliberately fogged to be able to resurrect either way if and when the persecutions should stop.

[doug e lewis]

thank you Piers,

 

and my dictionary shows juji is the root for several other words, like "jujika" - meaning a cross, or add one moe kanji "put a person on the cross: crucify. plus juji with different kanji be engaged in (labor, business)

 

to learn so much from looking at beautiful art -- and my wife thinks i waste to much time on this hobby.

 

doug e

[Henry Stewart]

John

 

I have a large banner from Japan, measuring 27 feet by 3 feet made from pure silk,very brightly coloured and quite a substantial weight,depicting the life of Oda Nobunago. It is folded very neatly into a large calico bag for carrying. There are lance slots all down one edge,and it was described to me as a parade banner;

Could you say how does it differ from what you have posted apart from the obvious size, and how would they have carried such a lance, and who would have carried it. The lance to accomodate it must be at least 30ft long and approx one and a half to two inches in diameter.

 

 

Henry

[IanB]

As Piers has said, the Shimazu of Satsuma originally used 'ju' in a circle and modified it to the 'horse bit' form when Christianity was becoming a problem. I have been working on an armour bearing the old form of their kamon, acquired for the collection of the Royal Armouries in 1841. For years it was confused with those given to King James I and then was thought to have belonged to Naito Yukiyasu exiled to Manilla; since it was known there was a Spanish connection and the engraved kamon on the kanemono look so much like Christian crosses. However, under a glass you can see that the engraver of the kanemono has done a little upward tick at the base of the upright strokes confirming it is really 'ju'. I have now tracked this armour down to the gift to King Philip II of Spain from the Tensho mission and actually have a description of it written in Madrid in 1603. It seems most likely it was a gift from the Otomo who had fought the Shimazu prior to this mission. The description states that the maedate was a gilded cross with 'tails' of black fur either side. This I interpret as being like kuwagata covered with the fur and a kamon at the base. There was also a large crest on top of the helmet, described as a gilded leather panache, but of what shape it doesn't say. Sadly these crests are lost but the tsunamono for them still exist. There is also a mention of what appears to read 'baruas' - in black and white, which follows immediately on the description of the crests. This continues to defeat me. The best interpretation I have come up with is that this might be the helmet cord, a sashimono or possibly a jinbaori. I struggle on.

Ian Bottomley

[John A Stuart]

Hi Henry, The nobori etc. were used to identify different troops and leaders while yours would be a triumphal device. I imagine it would be stationary and if paraded I don't know in what fashion carried.

 

Hi Ian, You mention Naito Joan. What a fascinating story that is and there is a connection between him and Kato Kiyomasa, mentioned earlier. For those who are interested in the history of the period it is well worth researching. The European religious conflicts were imported into Japan as a trade tool and after the troubles of the Sengoku period were the last devisive cause for the bakufu to eliminate before total pacification, culminating in the Shogunate forces' victory during the Shimabara Rebellion. The death and destruction caused rival any biblical disaster. John

[Bugyotsuji]

Henry, you may recall the use of banners here in Post #4

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2554

 

except that we have removed our Se-oi-bata for the photo. Our leader is constantly researching banners and trying to provide us with either real ones or exact copies from museum pieces.

[masterofweapons]

Wow that is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing.

[Marius]

For those interested in Japanese heraldry many more banners have been added to my site. artwork by Evalerio. John

 

http://www.johnstuart.biz/historical_ar ... rai_ba.htm

 

John,

 

Amazing... After a year I have come back to this post to look for SAKAI TADATSUGU's sashimono (and I have found it). I was inspired by Yoshitoshi's Mount Tobisu moon from the TSUKI HYAKUSHI series. Actually, I wonder if Sadatsugu's sashimono could have been not a banner with a skull but a 3D skull (so to say), either a real one or made from wood?

 

 

Thanks for this post and for the amazing amount of information in the artwork

 

Any answer to the sashimono problem would be greatly appreciated. I have attached Yoshitoshi's version of it and Evalerio's artwork

[John A Stuart]

I'll ask him. It may take awhile. John

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

John, try a search on Samurai archives. Methink it has been discussed and a 3D skull Sashimono was effectively made by laquered "papier-machè" (spelling?) .

 

I may be wrong, as I really can't find the discussion/topic/post no more. Possibly it was in the old Samurai Archives board.

 

Ian ? Anything emerging from your experience ?

[Jean]

Papier mâché

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

I need to buy a new keyboard. Mine has no â character.... :lol:

[Jean]

In fact, in AZERTY keyboard, there is a key, on the right handside, just before the key "£/$" with 2 characters : above "¨" and under "^", I just type first the "^" then the letter "a" and it gives "â"

[IanB]

Carlo, 3D sashimono were reasonably common but I have never seen one in the form of a skull. The best illustration I know showing them used is the screen showing the battle of Nagakute (also Komaki) in 1584. The number of items stuck on poles is enormous from buckets to fish to almost anything else you can think of - except skulls.

Ian

[Bugyotsuji]

Mariusz, what a wonderful Yoshitoshi you have there. It triggers off all sorts of thoughts and associations. Fascinating

[Marius]

Mariusz, what a wonderful Yoshitoshi you have there. It triggers off all sorts of thoughts and associations. Fascinating

 

Piers,

 

I have several prints of this series, but not this one, I am afraid :-) I wish, I had it.

 

I was writing an article about Yoshitosh's Tsuki Hyakushi and its pictures of warriors for an exhibition in Torun (May 2011) - http://gomabashi.blogspot.com/2011/01/a ... tsuba.html. One of the prints shown there will be the one I have posted here - Mount Tobisu Dawn Moon. And I got interested in this 3D sashimono.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

- except skulls.

 

Maybe my memory is wrong...