Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Shinagawa, from the series The Tōkaidō in Fifty-Three Pairs, 1845
Warrior artist
Kuniyoshi was the first prominent artist to specialise in depicting warriors. He paid great attention to the facial expressions and poses adopted by his figures, offering almost caricatural depictions of the excitement and suspense of the warrior stories.
The publisher sometimes included a short narrative poem with the print, to help explain exactly which scene was being depicted.
![Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Two Wounded Warriors of the Takechi [Akechi] Clan, , central sheet of the triptych Illustration of the Death of Leaders and Vassals of the Takechi [Akechi] Clan at the Great Battle of Amagasaki, 1865](https://iiif.micr.io/AYNQX/full/2000,/0/default.webp)
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, Two Wounded Warriors of the Takechi [Akechi] Clan, , central sheet of the triptych Illustration of the Death of Leaders and Vassals of the Takechi [Akechi] Clan at the Great Battle of Amagasaki, 1865
Violent prints
The prints of warriors were sometimes rather gory and violent. Vincent van Gogh only had a limited number of prints of warriors in his collection; perhaps the gruesome scenes clashed with his idealised image of Japan as a peaceful country.