Description
The 1582 battle of Tenmokuzan (天目山の戦い) was the final attempt by Takeda Katsuyori (武田勝頼) to resist the combined forces of Tokugawa Ieyasu (徳川家康) and Oda Nobunaga (織田信長). In his bid to hide from his pursuers, Katsuyori burned his castle Shinpujo (新府城) and fled into the mountains to another stronghold, the Iwadono Castle (岩殿城). This was held by Oyamada Nobushige (小山田信茂) who, however, denied entry to Katsuyori, who was then forced to commit seppuku. His army, in an attempt to resist enemy attacks, was completely destroyed.
The precious triptych of woodblock prints presented here, entitled “The Death in Battle of Katsuyori on Mount Tenmoku” (天目山勝頼討死ノ図), depicts this circumstance and was made in 1861 by the artist Utagawa Kuniteru II (二代目歌川国輝) and by the publisher Sagamiya Tokichi (相模屋藤吉).
The prints, despite the evident aging of the Japanese washi paper (和紙) and the presence of holes also of worms as well as small restorations, are in good general condition.
