Takeda Katsuchiyomaru

The young hero Takeda Katsuchiyomaru became the warrior Takeda Shingen (1521-1573), one of the most powerful leaders in the battles for control of Japan during the late sixteenth century. Here he battles a tanuki, a badgerlike creature with supernatural powers who had possessed a wooden toy horse. Kuniyoshi probably referred to a book published in 1808, Ehon koetsu gunki, for an account of Shingen's life. This print shows the early development of the dynamic style that made Kuniyoshi the premier warrior print designer from the late 1720s to the end of his career. He employs strong diagonals and forward movement in the picture plane to energize his compositions. Kuniyoshi's figures also reveal his familiarity with European techniques such as foreshortening, perspective, and chiaroscuro, which he and other artists learned from the books and pictures imported to Japan through Dutch trade at Nagasaki.