歌川広重画　「平清盛怪異を見る図」|Taira no Kiyomori's Spectral Vision

Utagawa Hiroshige

ca. 1845 · Triptych of woodblock-printed books (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper · Asian Art

The hubris embodied in the figure of Taira no Kiyomori (1118–1181) looms large in many medieval warrior tales. The death, conflict, and fiery destruction caused by his ambitions in the Hōgen and Heiji civil wars are ultimately resolved by his own horrifying death by fever during the Genpei War of 1180–85. Hiroshige depicted him as haunted, but uncowed, by his past deeds, surrounded by eerie skull forms in a snowy garden.

Artist

Utagawa Hiroshige

Date

ca. 1845

Medium

Triptych of woodblock-printed books (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Howard Mansfield Collection, Purchase, Rogers Fund, 1936