Lot 26
Lot 26
Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his Retainers Attacking the Drunken Monster Shuten-doji

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861)

    Price Realised GBP 8,125
    Estimate
    GBP 2,500 - GBP 3,000
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    Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his Retainers Attacking the Drunken Monster Shuten-doji

    Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861)

    Price Realised GBP 8,125
    Price Realised GBP 8,125
    Details
    A PRIVATE ENGLISH COLLECTION OF PRINTS BY UTAGAWA KUNIYOSHI

    Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861)
    Minamoto no Yorimitsu and his Retainers Aattacking the Drunken Monster Shuten-doji on Mount Oe

    Woodblock print, signed Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga, artist's seal yoshikiri, published by Amatsu, 1851
    Vertical oban triptych (each sheet approx. 35.8 x 24.9cm.)
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    Lot Essay

    Shuten-doji, the demon of Mount Oe, has the form of a man during the day, but at night transforms into a giant demon who kidnaps daughters of noble families from the capital and drinks their blood. Minamoto no Yorimitsu is ordered to destroy him and so he travels to Mount Oe with four bodyguards and Hirai Yasumasa. En route they are given a special sake which is harmful to demons, which he gives Shuten-doji who becomes paralysed, enabling Yorimitsu to sever his head.

    In this design, Shuten-doji is shown in the process of transforming into his demon form, his face half demon as well as his right hand. See Yuriko Iwakiri and Amy Reigle Newland, Kuniyoshi: Japanese Master of Imagined Worlds, (Leiden, 2013), p. 63.

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