THE LAST BATTLE OF COMMANDER AKIIE (Adachi Ginko)

N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print
Year: 1889
Condition: good
Size: 23,5 x 17,5 cm

SOLD

Description

Compelling original polychrome woodblock print depicting, as we read in the upper right inset, the bloody battle of Abeno (阿部野) of 1338, during which the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense of the North, the noble Kitabatake Akiie (北畠顕家), visible in the center of the scene riding on his steed, was defeated by the forces of Ashikaga Takauji (足利尊氏), thus losing his life at the age of only twenty-one.

The horizontal chuban (中判) format work is taken from the series “A Brief Illustrated History of Great Japan” (大日本史略圖會) and was made by the famous artist Adachi Ginko (安達吟光) and printed in August 1889 by the publisher Okura Magobei (大倉孫兵衛).

The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the presence of two small wormholes, is in good condition.