Among the most dramatic and imaginative designs by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861), Picture of Retired Emperor Sanuki Sending Allies [Tengu] to Rescue Tametomo exemplifies the artist’s compositional daring and theatrical command of narrative. Renowned for dynamic figuration and sweeping movement, Kuniyoshi transforms a legendary episode of medieval history into a visually arresting triptych of exceptional energy.
The warrior Minamoto (Genji) no Tametomo (1139–1170) was defeated in the Hogen Rebellion of 1156, fought between the factions of the retired Emperor Sutoku and Emperor Go-Shirakawa. Exiled to Izu Oshima, he escaped to Kyushu and began plotting against the Taira (Heike) clan, before setting sail for Kyoto and being overtaken by a violent storm and shipwrecked at sea. According to legend, he was ultimately saved through forces associated with the vengeful spirit of the retired Emperor Sutoku and carried to the Ryukyu Islands.
Kuniyoshi ingeniously condenses multiple episodes into a single, unified composition. On the left sheet, Tametomo drifts in a fragile boat as tengu, mythical beings part man and part bird acting as agents of Sutoku’s spirit, descend dramatically to his aid. At center, Kiheiji, Tametomo’s loyal retainer, clutches the warrior’s infant son while riding atop a colossal crocodile shark, subdued and transformed from threat into unlikely savior amid the raging sea. On the right, Tametomo’s wife, Princess Shiranui, sacrifices herself to calm the tempest, casting her body into the waves in a final act of devotion.
From twelfth century war tales and medieval legend, through Kuniyoshi’s nineteenth century reimagining, to the action and fantasy genres of modern manga such as Yu Yu Hakusho, Naruto and Demon Slayer, this visual logic unfolds across time. Supernatural power appears through tengu as vivid, recognizable forces; Tametomo emerges as a proto anti-hero, an exiled figure anticipating modern solitary protagonists; and history is reshaped into imaginative narrative, akin to the modern reanimation of yokai traditions in GeGeGe no Kitaro. Exaggerated gesture, sweeping diagonals, and compressed time anticipate manga’s grammar, a language that continues to inspire generations of artists and sustain an international fandom across decades.
This imaginative charge finds a striking parallel in his celebrated In the Ruined Palace of Soma, Princess Takiyasha Summons the Skeleton Spectre, in which Princess Takiyasha conjures a colossal skeletal apparition within the crumbling palace of Taira no Masakado. The monumental skeleton, erupting into the composition, pushes this theatrical logic to its extreme, recalling the Giant God Warrior in Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984) (lot 21) and Shiozaki Ken (b. 1972)’s Attack on Titan: Invasion of the Giants (2023) (lot 22), a reminder that Kuniyoshi’s vision remains strikingly ahead of its time.