Gama Sennin, the Toad Spirit, teaching Yoshikado and his sister Takiyasha the Arts of Magic

Inscriptions

Signed, Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga Inscribed and signed in various cartouches throughout; 1 stamp repeats on each sheet, another stamp is on 2nd and 3rd sheets

Label

Kuniyoshi drew on historical and fictional sources for the subject of this print. Yoshikado and Takiyasha, shown in the lower-right panel of this triptych, were the children of Taira Masakado (d. 940), who took control of three provinces in northern Japan in the early 10th century and declared himself Heishinn (new Taira emperor). The imperial court in Kyoto marshaled a large army that quickly destroyed Masakado’s treasonous regime. These historical events provided the context for Tales of Faithful Ut Yasukata (1806), a novel by Sant Ky den (1761–1861) that follows the lives of Masakado’s children. Elaborating on Ky den’s narrative, playwright Takarada Jusuke (1797–1838) penned Filial Love at the Abandoned S ma Palace (1836), a kabuki play recounting their adventures. This play was staged in 1844, the year before Kuniyoshi designed this print, and was likely his primary inspiration.

Kuniyoshi’s design shows Yoshikado and Takiyasha honing their magic skills under the guidance of the toad spirit Gama Sennin in order to avenge the death of their father, Masakado. Gama Sennin conjures up a woman with his breath as the entire landscape comes alive as an army of frogs. Frogs and toads have an enduring presence in East Asian myths, legends, and folktales as supernatural creatures and are featured in a number of kabuki plays and fictional narratives adopted by warrior-print artists. In a play titled Masakado, which also features the story of Takiyasha, a giant toad appears and destroys the S ma palace, once the headquarters of Masakado’s regime. Kuniyoshi extended the narrative introduced in this print in a later triptych featuring Takiyasha conjuring up a skeleton specter to battle Mitsukuni, the general sent by the imperial court to destroy Masakado.

From the 2019 exhibition Narratives in Japanese Woodblock Prints, guest curated by Allen Hockley, Associate Professor of Art History at Dartmouth

Course History

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Winter 2012

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2013

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Winter 2015

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Summer 2015

ARTH 65, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Summer 2015

ARTH 62.3, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Winter 2019

SART 31/SART 72, Painting II/III, Jen Caine, Winter 2022

ARTH 62.30/ASCL 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2022

ARTH 62.30/ASCL 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2022

Art History 62.30, Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Spring 2023

Art History 62.30, Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Summer 2023

Art History 62.30, Asian Societies, Cultures, and Languages 62.12, Japanese Prints, Allen Hockley, Summer 2023

Exhibition History

Japanese Prints in the Hood Museum of Art: Recent Acquisitions, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire [in conjunction with The Women of Shin Hanga: The Judith and Joseph Barker Collection of Japanese Prints, April 6-July 28, 2013.

Narratives in Japanese Woodblock Prints, Class of 1967 Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 27-June 9, 2019.

Provenance

Sebastian Izzard LLC, New York, New York; sold to present collection, 2008.

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Subjects