As you may know, I started the first post on the sasarindō motif just three weeks ago. This project soon overwhelmed me and I decided to add Part Two, this one, long before I felt I had got anywhere near finished with Part One. So, I decided to experiment and see if I could work on both parts at the same time and I can. Therefore, the information on this page will grow and grow and grow and the same will happen with the earlier page, but only after certain alterations. Please be patient with me. I hope this will serve us all.
The sasarindō is the personal family crest of Minamoto no Yoritomo. He and others allied or related to him displayed or wore that motif of gentian plants combined with bamboo leaves. It is amazing how many images display this mon, but don’t be mislead. It doesn’t appear everywhere there is a Minamoto connection. However, when it does appear you can figure there is a Minamoto or a Minamoto cohort nearby.
An emphasis on Yositsune and his circle and their use of the sasarindō
Yoshitsune was the son of Yoshitomo and the younger brother and rival of Yoritomo, of Part One of this post.
Yoshitoshi print, the middle panel of a triptych, from 1867
showing Sawamura Tosshō II as Minamoto no Yoshitsune.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The trials and tribulations of Tokiwa Gozen (ときは御前), wife or mistress of Yoshitomo and mother of Yoshitsune
Tokiwa Gozen had three sons with Minamoto Yoshitomo. After he died in the Heiji war in 1160 she very dramatically fled through to winter snows to escape and save the life of her children. This is an oft illustrated scene from her life. The most dramatic example in print form was created by Kuniyoshi, but we have chosen to show you a painted rendition by Shunkyokusai Hokumei (春旭斎北明) from the collection of the British Museum. You will see clearly that her oldest son is wearing a robe decorated with the sasarindō motif. Visible is the back of Yoshitsune’s head, the baby, who is held fast to her chest.
Detail of a scroll painting of Tokiwa Gozen and her sons shivering in the cold.
This painting is by Shunkyokusai Hokumei (春旭斎北明)
© The Trustees of the British Museum
After her successful escape Taira Kiyomori, her mortal enemy, took her mother captive and threatened to torture her. To save her mother’s life Tokiwa Gozen gave herself up and agreed to send her boys away to become monks. She became Kiyomori’s mistress and had a daughter by him. Then he died. What a relief. She later married someone else. What a life!
Tokiwa Gozen and two of her sons by Toyokuni III
Van Gogh Museum
I just noticed something, and it might be my imagination, but it would appear that the sasarindō is used to decorate the back of the little bird-on-wheels toy at the bottom of the print. It is only partially visible, but just enough so to make sense. Of course, a personalized toy would be made especially for the son, Yoshitsune, of such an important figure, i.e., Yoshitomo.
An admission: I artificially heightened the colors and contrast of the print shown above. I did this for editorial reasons so you could appreciate it for something closer to what it was when it was first published. This is basically a no-no and I know that, but… I hope you and the Van Gogh Museum can forgive me my liberties.
Minamoto Ushiwakamaru (源牛若丸), the young Yoshitsune, learns to the art of fighting from the tengu –
Ushiwakamaru learning the secrets of combat from the tengu king Sōjōbō
Designed by Yanagawa Shigenobu I
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Ushiwakamaru being taught swordsmanship by the tengu at Kuramayama
This is the center panel of a triptych by Kuniyoshi
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Detail of a surimono by Zeshin and Kuniyoshi. The full image is posted at my
very first post from about 11 years ago, the one on gourds. Also showing
Ushiwakamaru with the tengu king.
© The Trustees of the British Museum
Before Benkei at the bridge there is this enigmatic surimono with a beautiful sasarindō design
Surimono attributed to Hishikawa Sori III (菱川宗理), a pupil of Hokusai
Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels
Who is the boy? Who is the woman with a child strapped to her chest? Who is the child? And why is the woman wearing that large, gorgeous sasarindō scarf or veil? All of these questions would help us to identify this scene and its characters if only we could be sure about our answers. I had seen this print before, but hadn’t paid as much attention to it until I recently read a short article by Richard Lane in the October 1990 issue of Andon. That article is entitled ‘Little Benkei, little Sori: the anatomy of a surinomo‘. Lane wrote: “Signed only’Sóri’, the print had been given to Hokusai by Jack Hillier; and at the time I saw no objection to the attribution, the style representing the typically frail and attenuated figures of that artist around the turn of the 18th century. Its cleverly concealed – but instantly perceptible – connotations captivated me immediately and it may, indeed, be taken as typical of the complexity of allusions inherent in the genre: a depth of nuance sometimes lost on the casual collector today.”
Decorating the noren or curtain behind the little boy are three of Benkei’s seven weapons. The boy is positioned such that two of these look as thought they might be attached to his back as they are in the image shown above of Benkei and Ushiwakamaru on the Gojō Bridge. The barrel on the left side reads ‘Benkei Bridge’ (弁慶橋). There was such a bridge, a minor one, in Edo in the later 18th to early 19th century. In fact, the detail shown below shows the same establishment seen from that bridge in a circa 1834 book illustration of the Edo meisho zue.
Detail from an illustration in the Edo meisho zue
Waseda University library
So who is the woman? She is probably Tokiwa Gozen, which would make the small child she is holding her son Yoshitsune. Of course, by now, you probably remember that his childhood name was Ushiwakamaru. Tokiwa Gozen was a young beauty who was either the wife of Minamoto no Yoshitomo or his mistress. Or was it the other way around. It doesn’t matter. They had three sons and Yoshitsune was the youngest. When Yoshitomo rebelled against the Heike he was killed and beheaded. Tokiwa fearing for her sons safety escaped and fled in winter. There are many representations of her escape, a Kuniyoshi rendition being the most famous.
Ushiwakamaru, the flute and the encounter with Benkei on Gojō Bridge
Kunisada’s 1811 diptych of Ushiwakamaru facing off for a smack down with Benkei on Gojō Bridge
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The young Onzōshi Ushiwaka (御曹子牛若) frustrating the intentions of the warrior
Musashibō Benkei ( 武蔵坊弁慶) on Gojō Bridge (五条橋) by Toyokuni III in 1857
Lyon Collection
Fun and games – not everything is war, or is it?
Ushiwakamaru and Benkei playing a game of sugoroku by Totoya Hokkei
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
I was able to track down several copies of this print. One was in the Musee Guimet in Paris, another in the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, another in the Lusy collection in Zurich and this one. Possibly more, but I can’t recall right now. It was difficult to figure out which one to post here. Each had their assets, but I chose this one from Boston because of the clarity of colors and the facial features. It should also be noted that when this remarkable print was first produced the metallic background had the appearance of a brilliant, shiny gold, but over the years it has oxidized and shown the wear and tear of being handled. The metallic background has cracked and flaked over the last nearly 200 years. Still it is amazing that we still so many fine, if less than perfect, examples
In Reading Surimono: the interplay of text and image in Japanese prints, edited by John Carpenter, it says on page 225: “A youthful Minamoto Yoshitsune has apparently just defeated Benkei in a game of sugoroku, a board game resembling backgammon. The trademark tiger skin sheath of Yoshitsune’s sword can be seen and his robes are decorated with the sasarindō crest of the Minamoto clan – consisting of a gentian and five bamboo leaves. Yoshitsune is not holding a dagger, as one might mistakenly see it, but a sai-zutsu, containing two dice to be shaken before each move. Behind the young warrior we can spot some of the celebrated nanatsu dōgu, or seven ‘tools’, that Benkei usually carries with him.”
Sometimes it is Yoshitsune all by his lonesome
Yoshitora print of Ushiwakamaru playing his flute
from the early to mid 1840s
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Here is the title exactly as it appears at the MFA web site: “Onzôshi Ushiwakamaru, Ninth Son (Kyûnan) of Minamoto Yoshitomo, Later (nochi ni) Minamoto Kurô Hangan Yoshitsune, from Onzôshi Ushiwakamaru, Ninth Son (Kyûnan) of Minamoto Yoshitomo, Later (nochi ni) Minamoto Kurô Hangan Yoshitsune, from the series An Array of Youthful Heroes (Osanadachi buyû zoroe)the series An Array of Youthful Heroes (Osanadachi buyû zoroe).”
Here is Ushiwakamaru being accompanied by a man playing a koto or is that an ancient Chinese instrument? I’ll try to find out.
Hokusai surimono
Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna
The Museum für angewandte Kunst describes this as: “Das Bild ist Teil einer fünfteiligen Serie für den Dichterklub Zakurogakiren. Es zeigt japanisch-chinesische “Geschwisterpaare” beim Musizieren. Der Mann rechts in chinesischer Kleidung spielt eine koto 琴 (mit Seide bespannte Wölbbrett-Zither). Es handelt sich dabei um Shokatsu Ryō 諸葛亮 (auch Shokatsu Kōmei 諸葛孔明; chines. Zhuge Liang), einen Helden aus dem chinesischen Roman “San kuo chi yen i”. Er wird unter der Bezeichnung “Garyō” im rechten Gedicht erwähnt. Bei dem Mann links in japanischer Kleidung könnte es sich um Minamoto no Yoshitsune 源義經 handeln. Eine bekannte Legende besagt, dass Yoshitsune, während er einige Zeit im Haus des Dorfvorstehers von Yahagi (Provinz Mikawa) verbrachte, jede Nacht heimlich dessen Tochter Jōrurihime besuchte. Vor jedem Besuch spielte er auf seiner Flöte und sie antwortete ihm mit einem Spiel auf ihrer koto, wenn keine Gefahr drohte, entdeckt zu werden.”
If you need a basic translation into English you can cut and paste this passage and try something like Google translate. You’ll probably get the main points. It will be off a bit, but you’ll get the gist. One example: where it says “sie antwortete ihm mit einem Spiel auf ihrer koto” Google translates the word ‘Spiel’ as game when it should be ‘play(ing)’.
Ushiwakamaru, his flute, and Jōruri-hime… and those damned mitate prints
Why do I curse that ubiquitous category of Japanese ukiyo prints known as mitate? Why couldn’t I have shown better judgement in my choice of words? Why? Why? Why? Why didn’t I refer to them as those ‘darned mitate prints’? Well, I’ll try to tell you why: there is no plain and easy path to understanding that irksome term ‘mitate‘. Oh the books and the dealers and the museum labels will usually take the easy way out and tell you that it means it is a parody of something else. But is it? Is it always that simple? No!!!!! No! No! No! A thousand times ‘No!’ Mitate can mean one of any number of things and by blithely referring to it as a parody sends droves of interested parties down the wrong path never to fully grasp the subtleties of what the artist and the publisher were getting at. Suffice it to say, I will leave it at that. If you want me to explain my diatribe any more clearly, then write to me and I will try to make myself clearer. Let’s leave it at that for now and move on.
Below is a mitate – yes I said it because that is what it is – based on the story of Ushiwakamaru as a young man who is smitten with Princess Jōruri. Except here Ushiwakamaru is replaced in his role of the handsome suitor by a beautiful young courtesan, clearly of sophisticated tastes. Note that she is even wearing robes decorated with the Minamoto family crest, the sasarindō. All will become clearer soon with another posted image below this. Stay tuned. I will get to it in due time.
The Eighth Month: Moon Viewing by Toyokuni I
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The curatorial files for this print note: “Left sheet of incomplete triptych, with title on right sheet. A gender-reversed parody of the story of Ushiwaka and Joruri-hime.”
Yoshitsune, Benkei, the signboard and the gnarled plum tree – the naniwa-no-ume (浪花梅)
Planting the signboard by Katsukawa Shuntei
Lyon Collection
In case you were having problems spotting the sasarindō here it is on Yoshitsune’s armor.
“In this legendary scene, Benkei, the famous warrior-monk of the late twelfth century, plants a signboard in front of a gnarled plum tree at Daimotsu Bay by order of his master, Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Based on an edict issued in the Ten’ei period (1110-1112) for a famous maple tree, the sign reads… ‘If you break off one branch of this tree, one of your fingers will be cut off.’ The date on the sign, Ju’ei 3 (1184), marks the beginning of the Gempei wars, and the year Yoshitsune and the Minamoto troops defeated the Taira at the decisive battle of Ichinotani.” This was quoted from Jewels of Japanese Printmaking: Surimono of the Bunka-Bunsei Era 1804-1830.
Now here is a mitate of Yoshitsune, Benkei and that gnarled tree for you
Hokusai surimono from the series Godairiki (‘Vows to the Five Bodhisattvas’)
Bibliothèque nationale de France
While the subject is a direct reference to the Five Bodhisattvas it is also a substitution for the scene of Benkei planting the signboard, the naniwa-no-ume. These lovely, delicate, elegant women are stand-ins for the fierce warrior Yoshitsune sitting on the bench while the even more delicate looking woman writing a poem must be a replacement for the rough and tumble Benkei. It helps that the Yositsune figure is wearing a kimono decorated with the sasarindō motif. This print would be a lot more difficult to interpret if, obviously, the plum tree and the signboard, weren’t playing themselves.
Naniwa is the old name for the area around Osaka and ‘ume’ means plum and therefore by extension plum tree.
Yoshitsune and his nineteen faithful retainers set sail
Yoshikazu triptych of Yoshitsune and his nineteen retainers
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Yoshitsuya- middle and left panel of a triptych showing Yoshitsune and Nineteen Retainers
(Yoshitsune jūku shin – 義経十九臣)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Night Attack at Horikawa
Toward the end of the Tale of Heike Yoshitsune has had a falling out with his older brother Yoritomo. Why? Because Yoshitsune had gotten into a quarrel with that hothead Kajiwara Genta Kagesue about the use of reverse oars. Kajiwara felt humiliated and vowed to get even. He did this by planting the seeds of distrust in the mind of Yoritomo as regards his baby brother. It worked. While not equivalent to the subterfuge created by Iago on Othello, the principle is the same.
Triptych by Toyokuni I from ca. 1800
Lyon Collection
I found the sasarindō in two places on this remarkable triptych. One is on the breastplate of the placid looking Yoshitsune seated on the right. The other place is on the saddle of the rearing black horse in the middle panel. Is that horse Surusumi (磨墨) famed for the crossing of the Uji River? My guess is that it is. Below is a detail of the horse and saddle and below that is a statue in Japan dedicated to this noble steed. The sasarindō appears there too.
Notice the sasarindō on the lanterns below and the more subtle placement on the title cartouche in the upper right corner.
Kuniyoshi’s 1853 Night attack at Horikawa Palace
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The White Dragon
Yoshitsuya triptych of the Battle of Takadachi in 1187
when the White Dragon ascended to heaven in the presence of Yoshitsune.
The sasarindō appears twice on this composition.
Lyon Collection
This scene is one of a multitude of fantastic tales that grew up after the death of Yoshitsune. This triptych shows all of the warriors momentarily stopped in awe as a white dragon rises out of the Koromo River during a lightning storm. Yoshitsune had set up his residence along the Koromo after he had fled from his brother Yoritomo’s wrath. This is also the place where Yoshitsune met his end two years later in 1189.
The story first appeared hundreds of years later in the Kamakura jikki (鎌倉実記) in 1717.
Yoshitsune’s loyal retainer Satō Tadanobu (佐藤忠信: 1161-86)
Tadanobu and Shizuka Gozen with a set of Yoshitsune’s armor behind them
1859 diptych by Yoshitaki
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Yoshitsune rewarded his faithful follower Satō Tadanobu with a set of his own personal armor after Tadanobu miraculously rescued Shizuka Gozen. But what you may not know is that there is a definite reason that Tadanobu could do such magical tricks. He was in fact a shape-shifting fox that could take any form and move about as though quantum physics ruled his world.
There is an 1830 Shigeharu diptych of the fox Tadanobu and the beauty Shizuka Gozen. Below we are posting only the left half of this composition An enlargement shows a detail of the sasarindō, only partially visible, on his clothing.
This Shigeharu print come from the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The detail comes from the example in the Lyon Collection.
Jirō Kamata
1795 Toyokuni I print of Ichikawa Yaozō III as Jirō Kamata (鎌田次郎),
Minamoto Yoshitsune’s chief vassal
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
What to look for in modern day Kamakura –
On the morning of June 14, 2020 I woke up to a new email from Mark Schumacher who lives in Kamakura, Japan, the center established by Minamoto no Yoritomo as the capital of his shogunate. As Mark pointed out to me the sasarindō appears everywhere in modern day Kamakura. What surprises me in Japanese prints and paintings is everyday stuff in that great city. He mentioned that this Minamoto motif even shows up on manhole covers. This didn’t surprise me because years ago a friend of mine gave me a small book on those creative and wonderful manhole covers that are scattered throughout Japan. Mark’s comment led me to search the web for an appropriate image and here is one I found at The Travel Mind blog. I hope they don’t mind that I have borrowed it so that we all can share it together.
Mainly, I want to thank Mark for sending me off in this direction. If you want to do yourself a favor sometime make sure you go to his web site. Here is the URL that would give you a great place to start: https://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/resume-e.htm. His web site is massive and filled with more information than you can imagine. Well worth the time and effort to explore. You will come away from it a lot richer every time you go there.
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