Chronicle of the Imperial Restoration – Battle of Wakamatsu

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

1876

Donated by Tanba Tsuneo 

This piece is based upon an anecdote regarding the siege of Tsuruga Castle (Wakamatsu Castle), in which children inside the castle are said to have raised Aizu Tojin kites during the battle. Seeing the domanial samurai raise the kites, we can gain a sense of how this lifts the spirits of the warriors inside the castle.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-92) was an ukiyo-e artist during the last years of the Shogunate into the Meiji era, taking on a wide variety of subjects, such as actors, historical scenes, paintings of warriors, and portraits of beautiful women, being active during the turbulent years of the change from the Shogunate era into Meiji.