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Minamoto no Yorimasa watches Ii no Hayata slaying the nue, a mythical creaturefront

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Minamoto no Yorimasa watches Ii no Hayata slaying the nue, a mythical creature

  • Description

    The Emperor Konoe (1139-1155) had become ill due to a strange presence heralded by a black cloud over the palace. The warrior Minamoto no Yorimasa was sent to investigate it and discovered a peculiar creature, called a nue. Here he stands on the right dressed in court robes having wounded the nue with an arrow. He holds a torch so that Ii no Hayata, in armour, can dispatch it. On a veranda is the court lady Ayame no Mae, whose hand in marriage Minamoto no Yorimasa will earn from the Emperor for ridding the capital of this mysterious menace.

  • Details

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    Associated place
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    published 1847 - 1848
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Kunisada (1823-1880) (designer)
    Associated people
    Yamaguchi Tōbei (active c. 1805 - 1895) (publisher)
    Minamoto no Yorimasa (1106 - 1180) (subject)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print, with bokashi (tonal gradation)
    Dimensions
    mount 55.5 x 35.8 cm (height x width)
    sheet 34.5 x 23.7 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    printed › relief print › woodcut › colour woodcut
    Object type index
    visual representation › print › triptych print
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Christ Church College, University of Oxford, 1983.
    Accession no.
    EA1983.37.a

Glossary (2)

nishiki-e, nue

  • nishiki-e

    Nishiki-e literally means 'brocade pictures' and refers to multi-coloured woodblock prints.

  • nue

    An imaginary creature with a monkey’s head, badger’s body, paws of a tiger, a snake for a tail and with the voice of a golden mountain thrush (toratsugumi).

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

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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