The death of Yamamoto Kansuke at the Battle of Kawanakajima

Artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 月岡芳年 (Japanese, 1839–1892)

Date10th month, 1867

Mediumwoodblock print; ink and color on paper

Dimensions36.9 x 74.8 cm (oban)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineMrs. Kingsmill Marrs Collection

Terms

Object number1925.826

Label TextThe military advisor Yamamoto Kansuke Haruyuki Nyudo Dokisai (1501–1561) was a one-eyed, sixty year old warrior with a lame leg when he accompanied the warlord Takeda Shingen to Kawanakajima in 1561. Devastated that his proposed "Operation Woodpecker' had failed-and that Uesugi Kenshin's enemy troops instead had succeeded in killing Shingen's brother and great uncle-Yamamoto Haruyuki sought to restore his honor. Armed with a spear he threw himself into the midst of the battle. At dusk, suffering from arrow and gun wounds, he scrambled to the top of a hill, above the dust and smoke, to make his last stand. The battle-scarred Haruyuki is depicted seated on his dead horse, leaning on his bloody spear (yari). Facing the evening breeze he gazes at the distant peak of the volcano, Mount Asama. He is joined by an exhausted group of foot-soldiers, one with a speared trophy head, another with a broken nobori-style banner and a third with a drum-like standard emblazoned with Haruyuki's triple tomoe (comma or whirl) crest. Haruyuki committed seppuku, thus preventing the enemy from capturing him alive. Takeda Shingen, who survived the battle, and deeply regretted the loss of his chief strategist, ordered Haruyuki to be buried on the battleground.ProvenanceMrs. Kingsmill Marrs, Boston

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