THE BATTLES OF ICHINOTANI AND YASHIMA, FROM THE TALE OF THE HEIKE

The loyalty, courage, and martial skills of the samurai are shown in loving detail on this action-packed pair of screens. The battles of Ichinotani (on the right screen) and Yashima (on the left) took place in early 1185, at the end of the grueling five-year war between the Taira (also known as the Heike) and the Minamoto (or Genji). The Minamoto emerged victorious and their leader, Yoritomo, became the first shogun of a new military government. The battles were immortalized in the 13th-century historical novel, Tale of the Heike. The tale held special relevance in the 17th century when the concept of bushido, the way of the samurai, developed. Men recalled with romantic nostalgia their past fighting days and self-consciously articulated an ideal code of conduct.

Kano-school screens with a nearly identical composition can be found in the Freer Gallery of Art (left screen only) and the Saitama Prefectural Museum. Both are illustrated in Yamane Yuzo et al., Jimbutsuga: Yamato-e kei jimbutsu (Figure painting: Figures in the yamato-e tradition) in vol. 5 of Nihon byobu-e shusei (Tokyo: Kodansha, 1979), pls.110 and 107-108, respectively. The Saitama screen has been dated to the Genna era (1615-24), while the Freer screen is thought to date from the Kan'ei era (1624-44) or later. Another closely related example of the Battle of Yashima (left screen) in the Myron A. Hofer Collection, New York, is illustrated in John M. Rosenfield et al., The Courtly Tradition in Japanese Art and Literature: Selections from the Hofer and Hyde Collections (Cambridge, Mass.: Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, 1973), no. 94 and pl. 11.