(2) "The year was 1853. Tsukioka Yoshitoshi was 14, three years into his apprenticeship with ukiyo-e master Utagawa Kuniyoshi and ready to design his first woodblock color print, or nishiki-e, 'brocade pictures.' * * * His composition filled three printing sheets (about 21 by 15 inches each), requiring the publisher to have some 30 printing blocks carved, and it centered on a decisive moment in an 1185 battle [Battle of Dan-no-ura 壇ノ浦の戦い; Apr 25, 1185; a naval battle]. Pierced by arrows and facing certain defeat, a commander of the Heike 平家 [both kanji in Chinese pronunciations] clan has roped himself to an anchor whose arms loom ominously behind him. All around him, bloodied warriors tumble, stand frozen midfight or lie crumpled on the sea floor amid red-clawed crabs believed to embody the spirits of more fallen fighters. Meanwhile, women crowd together on underwater boulders, the eldest shielding her grandson, the boy emperor, not from drowning but from enemy rescue."
(a) TSUKIOKA Yoshitoshi 月岡 芳年 (1839 – 1892) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshitoshi
(b) UTAGAWA Kuniyoshi 歌川 國芳 (1798– 1861) https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/歌川国芳
(view pictures only)
(c) nishiki-e 錦絵 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nishiki-e
("It was invented in the 1760s, and perfected and popularized by the printmaker Suzuki Harunobu [鈴木 春信], who produced many nishiki-e prints between 1765 and his death five years later. * * * Previously, most prints had been in black-and-white, coloured by hand, or coloured with the addition of one or two colour ink blocks. A nishiki-e print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every colour, and using them in a stepwise fashion. An engraver by the name of Kinroku [金六] is credited with the technical innovations that allowed so many blocks of separate colours to fit together perfectly on the page, in order to create a single complete image")
錦 has Japanese pronunciation nishiki. 六 has Chinese pronunciation roku.
(d) “an 1185 battle"
Enter 壇ノ浦 in Google Maps, and you will appreciate 壇ノ浦, a river bend where 関門海峡 narrows to 600m between 下関市壇之浦町 and Mekari 和布刈 (a neighborhood of 門司区). An "ura" 浦 is an inlet.
(e) The general who roped himself to an anchor to commit suicide was TAIRA no Tomomori 平 知盛 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taira_no_Tomomori
(1152–1185; "the [should be A] son of TAIRA no Kiyomori [平 清盛 (1118 – 1181; second wife was 平 時子, whose daughter 平 徳子(1155 - 1214; 出家 after 壇ノ浦の戦い) with 平 清盛 the latter betrothed to an emperor who then fathered 安徳天皇]")
平 知盛's mother was also 平 時子.
Ancient Japanese name has no の (a hiragana, whose katakana is ノ -- both of which came from Chinese character 乃) in between surname and given name.
The "tomo" is usually represented by kanji 友.
(f) Emperor Antoku 安徳天皇 (1178 – 1185; reign 1180 - 1185; his grandmother TAIRA no Tokiko 平 時子 held him and jumped into water to commit suicide) (Kanji 平 has a Japanese pronunciation taira and a Chinese pronunciation hei, whose romanization means a long vowel of e.)
(g) Heikegani 平家蟹 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heikegani
The kanji 蟹 has Japanese pronunciation kani, whose k is softened to g.
The ja.wikipedia.org for 平家蟹 describes it as 褐色, 小型 (甲幅・甲長 both 20mm).
(3) "Compared with Kuniyoshi's circa 1844 rendition of this scene, Yoshitoshi's is narrower in focus and more intense"
(a) 歌川国芳, 壇浦戦之図 (3枚)
• The battle of Dan-no-ura (Dannoura sen no zu). Museum: PRIVATE COLLECTION. https://www.alamy.com/the-battle ... image227205457.html
• The Battle of Dan-no-ura (Dan-no-ura tatakai no zu): Suke no Tsubone, Shinchûnagon Taira Tomomori, and Sagami Gorô 「壇浦戦之図 典侍之局 新中納言平知盛 相模五郎」. Boston, Mass: Museum of Fine Arts, undated (accession No 1.27029-31). https://collections.mfa.org/objects/488550?image=
• The British Museum calls these "triptych print" (Museum No: 1907,0531,0.626.1-3). See Dan-no-ura ikusa no zu https://research.britishmuseum.o ... 785816&partId=1
The kanji 戦 (as a noun, as opposed to a verb) has a Chinese pronunciation sen and two Japanese pronunciations ijua and tataka-i.
(i) Sagami Gorō / Sagami no Gorô 相模 五郎 (the surname came from 相模国 in ancient Japan.)
(ii) The highest rank 平 知盛 achieved in officialdom was 中納言, and hence his 別名 新中納言. ja.wikipedia.org for 平知盛. First, ancient Japan had the rank 納言, which evolved into two ranks: 大納言 and 中納言.
(iii) Jumping into the water to commit suicide also, Suke no Tsubone 典侍之局/ 典侍の局 was the name of wet nurse 乳母 of 安徳天皇.
(4) "Four versions of his iconic 'Flute Player' show how mood and impact change as he unclutters the composition, plays with color, and reverses the direction of clouds."
(a) Presumably 藤原保昌月下弄笛図 (1883). 三枚続絵 triptych. See
Fujiwara no Yasumasa Playing His Flute in the Moonlight. Art Institute of Chicago, undated. https://www.artic.edu/artworks/1 ... te-in-the-moonlight
(5) "We also get a sense of his range with the inclusion of a painting on a pair of unusually large hanging scrolls. Made around 1874, they portray four historic Japanese generals along with an adult Napoleon III and George Washington as a young drummer boy. Why? Nobody yet knows."
(a) Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Great Generals of the East and West, c 1874. (Gift of Willard and Elizabeth Clark; 2015.114.3.1). https://collections.artsmia.org/ ... tsukioka-yoshitoshi
佛 is one=word abbreviation for France in Japan. Napoleon lost and was captured in Franco-Prussian War (July 19, 1870 – Jan 1871). He was nephew of Napoleon I and emperor of Second French Empire.
(b) Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Great Generals of the East and West, c 1874. (Gift of Willard and Elizabeth Clark; 2015.114.3.2). https://collections.artsmia.org/ ... tsukioka-yoshitoshi
(6) "In the portrayal of Danjo Matsunaga Hisahide, for example, it subtly contributes to the intensity of an already dramatic scene as the infamous feudal lord prepares to commit suicide."
(i) The danjō -- ō means a long vowel -- 弾正 was an official rank/position, in charge of 監察・治安維持.
(ii) MATSUNAGA Hisahide 松永 久秀 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsunaga_Hisahide
("In 1577 [織田 信長 ODA] Nobunaga besieged him at Shigisan Castle. Defeated but defiant Hisahide committed suicide. * * * Hisahide often appears as a shriveled and scheming old man in fiction. However, this is a fictitious image propagated in response to the assassinations and the [1566] destruction of Tōdai-ji [東大寺 a Buddhist temple in City of Nara 奈良市] that he was believed to have perpetrated. In truth, he was a tall, handsome, and educated man as well as a patron of arts")
(1508 – 1577) was a general in Japan's Warring states period 戦国時代 (1467-1615). Shigisan castle 信貴山城 (atop 信貴山; in existence 1536–1577; little remains today)
(iii) 月岡芳年, 「芳年武者牙類 [sic; should be 无類] 弾正忠松永久秀」. https://ja.ukiyo-e.org/image/waseda/201-3865
Click to enlarge. Only AN eye showed under white, wild hair. 无類 (pronounced bu-rui in Japan) means peerless, unrivaled. Contrast you-jiao-mu-lei in Chinese language.
(7) "There are also times, however, when simple body postures speak volumes. No need to know anything about Kesa Gozen to realize, by the unnatural twist of her neck, that she is torqued with anxiety, just as portrayals of her killer in the Minneapolis show tell us he is immersed in fervent prayers—in penance, it turns out."
(a) The noun 袈裟 kesa has the same meaning in Japan as in China.
Kesa Gozen 袈裟御前 was the beautiful (newlywed) wife of MINAMOTO no Wataru 源 渡. While single, she was a lady-in-waiting to 鳥羽天皇's daughter 皇女 (ie, princess); a 武士 of 天皇 named ENDŌ Moritō 遠藤 盛遠 (1139-1203) adored her. But 袈裟御前 chose to marry 源 渡, and the couple was happy. 遠藤 盛遠 would not give up, threatening to kill her mother and then committed suicide by cutting up his belly. She pretended to cooperate by telling 遠藤 盛遠 that he should do it at a certain time (at night) and date, where her husband would sleep on the bed. 遠藤 盛遠 did, and cut the head off. While out holding the head, he discovered that was 袈裟御前's. He and the husband were remorseful and both 出家, he adopting the name Mongaku 文覚. 袈裟御前's head was buried as 首塚, which served as the foundation of 戀塚寺, in Kyoto, where 文覚 the monk lived till the end of his life. https://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/12125966/
(photo)
The "1887/9" denotes the printing lasted from 1887 to 1888. And a particular print may come from any of the three years.
(b) 錦絵
(i) 月岡芳年, Kesa Gozen writing her last words before dying for her husband, from the series Twenty-four Accomplishments in Imperial Japan 「皇國二十四功」. National Museum of Asian Art (1887/9; Credit Line: Robert O Muller Collection; collection: Arthur M Sackler Gallery; accession number: S2003.8.3060). https://asia.si.edu/object/S2003.8.3060/
(ii) For the moment right before the killing, see "芳年武者无類 遠藤武者盛遠" (1883-1886) in https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/文覚
(iii) 月岡芳年, 那智山之大滝にて荒行図 (1859-1860). (東京都)練馬区立美術館, Aug. 2018 https://twitter.com/nerima_museu ... 43306946560?lang=de
(A) Click to enlarge. Earlier in the WSJ review says, "A waterfall's strong verticals." That depicts this very 錦絵.
(B) One may observe 文覚 in the midst of waterwall 滝.
(c) "portrayals of her killer in the Minneapolis show tell us he is immersed in fervent prayers—in penance, it turns out"
(i) "那智山は那智川の源流域を構成し、大雲取山（966m）、烏帽子山（909m）、光ヶ峯（686m）、妙法山（749m）などの山々からなる。全域が吉野熊野国立公園の一部であり、那智滝やその水源林である那智原始林 * * * " ka.wikipedai.org for 那智山 (山).
my translation: 那智川 has its head in Mount Nachi 那智山, which is made up of several mountains as high as 966m. 那智山 is part of 吉野熊野国立公園 (吉野熊野 Yoshino Kumano, respectively referring to 吉野山 and 熊野川). 那智山 has 那智滝, 那智原始林, and 熊野那智大社. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/熊野那智大社
A 大社 means a grand 神社 shrine (ie, NOT a buddhist temple).
Neither the preceding Wiki page (熊野那智大社) nor the following Wiki page (那智滝) shows proximity of the two. See
John Lnder, Kumano Nachi Taisha Shrine & Nachi Waterfall are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes [霊場と参詣道 in Japanese] in the Kii Mountain Range of Jap. Alamy Stock photo (image ID: J2RK7B). https://www.alamy.com/stock-phot ... esco-139432255.html
(ii) 那智滝 https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/那智滝
(in 那智川; 落差: 133m; 。ユネスコの世界遺産『紀伊山地の霊場と参詣道』（2004年〈平成16年〉7月登録）の一部)
All Chinese characters in this posting are kanji and their phrase (in Japanese).
The bottom of this Wiki page displays three more waterfalls of 那智四十八滝 distributed among various rivers and streams of 那智山 -- not just in 那智川.
(iii) Jim Breen's online Japanese-English dictionary:
* ara-gyō 荒行 【あらぎょう】 (n): "asceticism"