Japanese Woodblock of Battle of Shijōnawate with unknown Date/Artist

I purchased this woodblock from an antique store in Tokyo about 20 years ago. Unfortunately, I lost the receipt that had info about the print (the artist, the date, etc).

I asked reddit r/translator and someone told me that it is a print of this battle: Kusunoki Masatsura - Battle of Shijōnawate. I have looked at many websites and did a google image search, haven't found this exact print yet.

Does anyone have any ideas how I can go about tracking down the artist and/or rough date?

 

Hi @rickkeller and WELCOME! To ME, there is SO much reflection going on in that image, that I personally cannot see the print!! Do you think you can try holding or setting it at a different angle to try to reduce it? Thanks!!

 

Yes its really reflective. I tried several times but couldn't get it. I will grab my camera and put a filter on it and re-post in a while

 

Hello and welcome, @rickkeller,
I took the liberty of cropping and uploading your image to a site that catalogs Japanese ukiyo-e prints, https://ukiyo-e.org/. They could not find a match for your print, although the reflections may have affected their search function. I did receive the suggestion that you could ask the "Ukiyo-e Q&A community for help":
http://www.ukiyo-e.se/wwwboard/wwwboard.html
Using as a reference the url that was generated by uploading the image:
https://data.ukiyo-e.org/uploads/images/9afade9b299d7ddc37bba85a5aa0da76.jpg

Here is a link to the actual response that I received:
https://ukiyo-e.org/upload/9afade9b299d7ddc37bba85a5aa0da76

 

Was it already framed when you bought it?

2 things I'm wondering about - 1) it looks to me like it was originally in a book and has 2 "folds" that do not associate with any of the reflections.
2) what is the writing ( ... ARMY) upper middle of the image in an open space?

 

Maybe, first of all, how about one of our 'translating' members, making sure what those symbols on the right side say?????? @Bakersgma, @blooey and who is Matt?? It IS possible someone mis-identified it thereby totally hindering your search!!

 

I am not a translator.

 

Neither is blooey.

 

Thanks, I will try this

 

No it was not professionally framed, he had it in in a display case. I framed it when I bought it

Sorry I don't se the writing. Where is it at?

 

You might be right about mistranslation because when I find other woodblock prints of the battle, someone usually has a flag with a symbol that looks like a flower, but in this one, the staff doesn't have anything on the flag but does have a butterfly on the top of the staff.

 

Well a much better picture, now at least we can see the image!

In my opinion this is a pre-Meiji work as the print was made without aniline inks, so guessing 1840-50's or so. Utagawa school IMO, but no signature visible - the three panels of the triptych may not be entirely visible - possibly a signature is hidden under the mat - you can check the size of your visible sections as each panel should be oban size, 15” by 10” (38cm x 25cm)

 

Just below the figure upper center who has 2 lances or rods crossing behind him .

 

Ukiyo-e prints were often created as three separate prints, triptychs, so not folds from being in a book. I think the "writing" you are seeing are actually small soldiers in the distance.

 

Ok thanks for the tip, I will measure to see if anything is covered. Hopefully not because I had it framed at a shop in Tokyo that used a wooden plank on the back, so don't want to mess with that

 

Sometimes censor seals will be in the margins (which if present can be used to effectively date the print) but prints like these are often sold without margins as they are usually from books.

 

The updated image did the trick on the image search. It found one of the three panels. Unfortunately it says artist unknown and has no info.

https://ukiyo-e.org/upload/ba3ae0724054bc71ec59a79cd3a421d4

 

Well, it is a start. Perhaps the other two panels that you have will allow someone to identify them if you ask the Ukiyo-e Q&A community.

 

Bit of a dilettante site that, IMO