104 - Chikanobu: The brave wife of Shinozuka Iga no Kami standing on the bank of a lake

Chikanobu: The brave wife of Shinozuka Iga no Kami standing on the bank of a lake

This is "The brave wife of Shinozuka Iga no Kami standing on the bank of a lake", by Toyohara Chikanobu. The print is from1866.

Shinozuka Iga no Kami was a retainer of the Nitta no Yoshisada and the Nitta clan. His wife's name was Iga no Tsubone.

90 - Chikanobu: A group of bijin look out over a snow-covered garden

Chikanobu: A group of bijin look out over a snow-covered garden

A beautiful triptych by Toyohara Chikanobu, A group of bijin look out over a snow-covered garden, from 1893. It is a combination of bijinga and landscape.

66 - Chikanobu: The Battle of Awazugahara

Chikanobu: The Battle of Awazugahara: The warrior woman Tomoe Gozen and Hatakeyama Shigetada

Here we have a triptych from 1883 by Toyohara Chikanobu: The Battle of Awazugahara: The warrior woman Tomoe Gozen and Hatakeyama Shigetada.

The print is an illustration to Heike Monogatari [平家物語] - The Tale of the Heike - which is a recording from the 13th century about the wars between the Taira (Heike) and the Minamoto (Genji) clan.

Tomoe Gozen was a female samurai who became a fighter in order to protect Kiso Yoshinaka, her beloved.

14 - Chikanobu: Tour by boat - Okawa-river

Chikanobu: Tour by boat - Okawa-river

Toyohara Chikanobu (1838–1912), sometimes called Yōshū Chikanobu, had a number of illustrious teachers. First Keisai Eisen, and later Kuniyoshi and Kunisada.

"Tour by boat, Okawa River", a woodblock print from 1897, is sometimes seen with other titles: "Nobleman Boatings" or "Tokugawa Shogun at Okawasuji". This triptych is taken from the series Official Ceremonies at Chiyoda Palace.

The print is from the Meiji period and belongs to the informational prints which were so typical for that period. Many depictions of war or officialdom served as newspaper illustrations and were made for educational rather than artistic purposes. Photography gradually came to replace them.