In this work the courageous fifteen-year old Sasai Kyuzo Masayasu is shown at the moment of his death in a hail of bullets during the battle at Anegawa river in Omi province in 1570. In this battle Sasai Kyuzo fights on the side of both Oda Nobunaga (1534-82) and Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616), against Asakura Yoshikage (1533-73) and Asai Nagamasa (1545-73). When Sasai Kyuzo's side is about to retreat, courageously he runs forward in attack towards the opposition's warlord Asai Nagamasa, causing Asai's troops to protect their leader by slaying the threat. See Robert Schaap, Heroes and Ghosts, (Amsterdam, 1998), p. 91.

For another impression in the collection of the British Museum, see www.britishmuseum.org museum number 2008,3037.05627.

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