Backed into a corner of the house of his ex-lover, the warrior Minamoto no Tadanobu slashes out with his sword and a gō board at Minamoto no Yoritomo’s men, who have come to kill him having been tipped off by the treacherous Koshiba Oguruma, who is seen hiding behind the sliding shoji screen. Gō pieces scatter everywhere in the heat of Tadanobu’s last moments, before he commits suicide (seppuku). This scene is also depicted on the netsuke EA2001.69.
gō, netsuke, nishiki-e
Art name
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.
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