Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, 1839-1892

One Hundred Aspects of the Moon: Mountain Moon After Rain -Tokimune
(Tsuki hyakushi: Ugo no sangetsu - Tokimune)

signed Yoshitoshi with artist's seal Yoshitoshi no in, carved by Enkatsu, and publisher's date and address seal Meiji juhachinen, junigatsu, juka; Nihonbashi-ku Muromachi Sanchome 9-banchi, insatsu ken hakkosha Akiyama Buemon (Meiji 18 [1885], December 10) of Akiyama Buemon of Kokkeido

oban tate-e 14 5/8 by 9 7/8 in., 37.3 by 25.2 cm

Soga Goro Tokimune, the subject of this composition and The Tale of the Soga (Soga monogatari), was the younger and brasher of the infamous Soga brothers. The stories of Goro and his brother Juro, retold in countless ways, follow the brothers as they attempt to avenge their father's murder by killing the dastardly Kudo Suketsune. The brothers end up avenging their father's death only at great cost. Though they kill Suketsune at the hunting camp of the Shogun Minamoto Yoritomo (1147-1199), Juro dies in the ensuing skirmish and Goro is executed by the Shogun soon thereafter. Goro is depicted observing a hototogisu (cuckoo) as he prepares to enter the camp. The hototogisu traditionally calls spirits to the next world, and thus is a foreboding sign of what is to come for Goro and his brother. Yoshitoshi earlier depicted the brothers trudging barefoot through the rain en route to Yoritomo's camp in 1873 for the series Essays by Yoshitoshi.

References:
Keyes 1983, p. 460, no. 478.8
Segi 1985, p. 60, no. 29
van den Ing & Schaap 1992, p. 132, no. 54.8
Stevenson 2001, no. 9
Ota Memorial Museum of Art 2009, p. 21, no. 2.9

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