At the fourth battle of Kawanakajima, the warlord Takeda Shingen (1521-1573) fought off a surprise attack from his long time neighbour and rival, Uesugi Kenshin (1530-1578) by parrying the enemy’s sword with his metal war-fan. In the distance troops fighting at the confluence of the Sai and Chikumen rivers can be seen. The name Kawanakajima means ‘island between rivers’ and was the site of five battles between these two warlords. This warrior is one of those depicted on the netsuke EA2001.88.
Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 23 April-22 September 2013, Manjū: Netsuke from the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Joyce Seaman, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2013), illus. p. 206 fig. 59
netsuke, nishiki-e
The netsuke is a form of toggle that was used to secure personal items suspended on cords from the kimono sash. These items included purses, medicine cases or tobacco paraphernalia.
Nishiki-e literally means 'brocade pictures' and refers to multi-coloured woodblock prints.
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
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