The Ghosts of the Taira Attack Yoshitsune’s Ship in Daimotsu Bay

Fleeing across Daimotsu Bay, Yoshitsune’s ship is set upon by the drowned dead of the Taira clan — the warrior Tomomori foremost, rising from the waves with the anchor that carried him down at Dan-no-ura. Kuniyoshi fuses the great sea battle’s aftermath with the Noh play Funa Benkei: history’s losers return as weather, and only Benkei’s prayers, not swords, can answer them. The ghosts are printed in the colors of deep water, half-dissolved where they meet the waves — dead and sea share one substance; the living crew is the only warm color in the storm. "The sea keeps what the war threw into it."

Maker

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Date

c. 1849–1851

Medium of the original

Woodblock print; ink and color on paper

Rights

Cleared for print

Catalogue number

PA-00415