戦争絵

choi

John L Tran, Exploring war through woodblock prints. Japan Times, Jan 20, 2018.
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/cul ... r-woodblock-prints/

Note:
(a) This is an exhibition review on
Flash of Light, Fog of War: Japanese Military Prints, 1894-1905.  Oct 6, 2017 - Jan 7, 2018.
https://ackland.org/exhibition/flash-light-fog-war/
(ii) About this exhibition, the Museum released a press release in November 2017, stating this is "an expansive exhibition showcasing 75 Japanese prints of battle scenes from the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War at the turn of the 20th century.  [This exhibition is] Drawing from a recent, major gift to the Ackland of over 240 Japanese prints from Gene and Susan Roberts, Flash of Light, Fog of War presents these military scenes in an unprecedented manner"

(b) Ackland Art Museum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ackland_Art_Museum
(1958- )

(c)
(i) caption of the first sensō-e 戦争 絵 in this web page: "Artist: NAKAMURA Shūkō 中村 秋香 画; publisher [or blockcutter]: SEKIGUCHI Masajirō 関口 政治郎 [生没年不詳] 彫 版 [or] 印: 'The Japanese Destroyer's Great Victory off Haiyang Island' (1894) 海洋嶋沖日艦大勝."

The kanji 嶋 is a variant of 島.
(ii) caption of the second sensō-e: "A woodblock print titled 'The Great Naval Battle of Haiyang Island 海洋島海軍大激戰' by artist Bairin 梅琳 [(?-?)] and carver Hori Yata (1894)"
(A) Near 海洋島 and 獐子島 in Yellow Sea, the second sea battle of the First Sino-Japanese War was fought on Sept 17, 1894 (Japanese: 黄海海戦 (日清戦争) ).
(B) 彫工 or 彫師 彫弥太, a name used in the seal of WATANABE Yatarō 渡辺 弥太郎 (1850-1913; an apprentice of WATANABA Eizō 渡辺 栄蔵 (1833−1901).  See

Japanese Color Woodblock Print Collection of Ten Plays New and Old[:] Modoribashi (starring) Onoe Kikugorō by TOYOHARA Kunichika, 1897. 新古演劇十種之内 戻り橋  豊原国周 筆. The Lavenberg Collection of Japanese Prints, undated (collection of Waseda University Library).
http://www.myjapanesehanga.com/h ... d-old---modoribashi
("seal reading: 彫弥太 Hori Yata; seal of the carver 渡辺 弥太郎 Watanabe Yotarō [sic, should be Yatarō")
*  新古演劇十種
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/新古演劇十種
("五代目尾上菊五郎と六代目尾上菊五郎によって撰じられた音羽屋 尾上菊五郎家のお家芸")

My translation: written by ONOE Kikugorō V and VI; house specialities
* 戻り橋 or 戻橋 (戻 is the kanji meaning "return" (verb or noun). This is what the current bridge looks like.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/一条戻橋

The bridge is located in the First Avenue of Kyōto. The bridge name came from a legend that happened in 918, when sinologist 三善 清行 died there, and his son rushed to return from Kyūshū 九州. When the father's funeral procession reached the bridge and chanced upon the son, the father revied.

The kakubi play 戻橋 is about general WATANABE no Tsuna 渡辺 綱(953-1025; formal name 源 綱; popularly known as 渡辺 源次), under lord MINAMOTO no Yorimitsu 源頼 光.  渡辺 綱 was asked to seek a fiend that haunted the capital. He saw a young woman who asked for help to return home, took her on the horseback behind himself,  When they reached the bridge, he saw, from water reflection, a fiend behind instead. The fiend attacked him, and in the ensuing fight, he managed to cut off an arm of the fiend. That is what you see in the ukiyo-e.

* O-NO-E Kiku-go-rō 尾上 菊五郎 (尾上 is the surname, where no is の (= 之) and  "o" and "e" are Japanese pronunciations for kanji 尾 and 上, respectively; 尾上 菊五郎 has been a stage name of kabuki actors, from I to VII (The VII is the current one, who was born in 1942)
(C) The kanji 弥 (whose meaning is same as in Chinese language) has Japanese pronunciation "ya" and Chinese pronunciations: "mi" or "bi."
(D) The kanji 彫 has a Japanese pronunciation "horu" (verb)/ "hori" (noun) and Chinese pronunciation "chō."
(E) 陸儒德, 黃海海戰中日或為平局：日艦隊被迫首先退離戰場. 大連日報, Aug 28, 2014.
http://culture.people.com.cn/BIG ... 72318-25560066.html
(iii) caption of the third sensō-e: "Artist: KOBAYASHI Kiyochika 小林 清親; publisher: INOUE Kichijirō 井上 吉次郎: 'The Naval Battle of Pungdo in Korea 朝鮮豐島海戰之圖' (1894)"
(A) 丰岛海战 (which is Chinese; Japanese: 豊島沖海戦 hōtō oki kaisen, where oki 沖 is defined as "open sea") is the first sea battle on July 25, 1894. See 甲午战争
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/甲午战争
(section 3 过程, section 3.1 第一階段: includes a map that displays 海洋岛 and 丰岛.
(B) In Korea, the writing for the island is 豊島 (hanja); 풍도 (hangul)m and Pungdo (English). That is why both the French wikipedia and the English one uses Pungdo as the sea battle name. See Battle of Pungdo
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pungdo