Tag Archives: samurai

The Fighting Spirit Part II at The Toshidama Gallery

Posted on August 20, 2021 by toshidama

The second part of our 2021 collection of prints that explore the fighting spirit in Japanese woodblock prints opens online on 20th August 2021. Why do people fight… why do men fight? This universal question crosses cultures and borders, crosses … Continue reading →

Posted in Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, musha-e, samurai, ukiyo-e, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Bandits and Warlords. Fighting men in Japanese prints.

Posted on September 27, 2019 by toshidama

The Toshidama Gallery is showing a collection of prints featuring aggressive and violent folk heroes and warlords. The selection looks at how the populace of Edo expressed their frustration with the government and with the increasingly corrupt samurai class. As … Continue reading →

Posted in Asian Art, Floating World, Japanese Art, Japanese gangster, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Male Tragedy, Otokodate, Suikoden, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bandits, Brigands and Warlords.

Posted on September 27, 2019 by toshidama

Kuniyoshi, The 108 Heroes of the Popular Suikoden: Du Qian, the Sky Toucher, 1827 Perhaps we should look at these tremendous Japanese prints of fighting men – heroic or tragic figures… bound as they are in myth and history – … Continue reading →

Posted in Hokusai, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kuniyoshi, musha-e, Otokodate, ukiyo-e, Uncategorized, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Warrior Sensibility in Japanese Prints

Posted on January 22, 2016 by toshidama

Kunichika, Minamoto no Yoshiie and Ino Hayata Hunting the Nue Kunisada, Narita no Shinzo The current exhibition at Toshidama Gallery is called The Warrior Sensibility in Japanese Prints. The twenty-four prints by seven artists cover the bulk of the nineteenth … Continue reading →

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Images of Men and Women in Japanese Woodblock Prints

Posted on May 30, 2014 by toshidama

Toshikata, Samurai and Landscape, 1887 The current exhibition at the Toshidama Gallery shows twenty-four prints of men and women, all of them from the nineteenth century. Immediately obvious is how, despite stylistic and technical development, images of men remain pretty … Continue reading →

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The Chushingura

Posted on March 14, 2014 by toshidama

Kunichika, Biographies of the Loyal Retainers Maybe cultures choose the myths that suit their times or maybe it is the myth that inexorably shapes the culture which proceeds them. Either way there can be little doubt that myth and legend … Continue reading →

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Kuniyoshi to Yoshitoshi – Reviving the Warrior Tradition

Posted on May 5, 2013 by toshidama

The new show just open at Toshidama Gallery is on the subject of musha-e, or warrior prints.  With images from the earliest part of the nineteenth century, such as the Shuntei pictured left, to the masterful Yoshitoshi woodblock prints from … Continue reading →

Posted in Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, Kuniyoshi, Shuntei, Suikoden, ukiyo-e art, Uncategorized, yoshitoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Kuniyoshi to Yoshitoshi – Reviving the Warrior Class

Posted on April 26, 2013 by toshidama

Yoshitora, Attack on a Castle, 1864 Cultures turn to mythologies for reassurance – myths define us like daydreams, they show us how we might be. In England, (where we were recently reminded of all those knights in armour at Prime … Continue reading →

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Tomoe Gozen – Woman Warrior

Posted on April 23, 2012 by toshidama

It is so easy to miss what’s going on in Japanese prints – sometimes just looking hard isn’t enough. There are two prints on this page, one is of a female warrior battling a man and the other is of … Continue reading →

Posted in japanese woodblock prints, Kuniyoshi | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Otokodate – Black Sheep of the Floating World

Posted on February 27, 2012 by toshidama

                  It’s easy to use a phrase over and over without ever really thinking about it or explaining it in any great detail. The word Otokodate is one such instance and I … Continue reading →

Posted in Clint Eastwood, Floating World, Japanese Art, Japanese prints, japanese woodblock prints, kabuki theatre, Kunichika, Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Otokodate, Toshidama Gallery., ukiyo-e art | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments