Exciting triptychs
Everything undulates and swirls in this spectacular triptych The Sacrifice of Yojibei. In his triptychs, we see Kuniyoshi at his finest. He made the best possible use of the three sheets to depict a tragic scene.
On the left-hand sheet, we see how the heroic soldier Yojibei sacrifices himself to the gods of the sea in order to bring an end to the storm that is plaguing the troops.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, The Sacrifice of Yojibei, triptych, 1851
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Tokiwa Gozen, from the series Legends of Wise and Chaste Women, 1842
Heroines
Kuniyoshi broke with the tradition of depicting women as courtesans by offering a contrasting idealised female image: that of the heroine.
He depicted heroic women from history and mythology. Tokiwa Gozen was such a heroine. She fled from enemy troops through the wintry cold, protecting her children under her kimono.