Yoshitoshi's 'Twenty-four Accomplishments in Imperial Japan (Kōkoku nijūshi-kō)' (1881-87)

Introduction

It dates from towards the end of Yoshitoshi's career, when he was about forty-two. It thus dates from slightly before before his well-known masterpieces such as his great series "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon" (1885-1892), and "New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts" (often called simply "Thirty-Six Ghosts") (1889-1892).

The texts on the prints are by Ryūtei Tanehiko II; it is not clear whether Tanehiko wrote text to go with Yoshitoshi's illustrations, or if Yoshitoshi produced images to go with Tanehiko's text. The early group (see below) are signed 'Tentendojin'; the later group are signed 'Ryūtei Tanehiko' or 'Ryūtei Tanehiko ki' (柳亭 種彦 記 - 'Written by Ryūtei Tanehiko'). His words are poetic and allusive, and underscore the mood of Yoshitoshi's image.

Technical details

• Dates: 1881 (5) - 1887 (9)
• Size: Ōban
• Signed: Taiso Yoshitoshi hitsu (first edition); Yoshitoshi (second edition)
• Seals: Taiso (first edition); Yoshitoshi (second edition)
• Publishers: Tsuda Genshichi (first edition); Matsuki Heikichi (second edition)

Publishing commenced in 1881, and the first 16 prints were produced by the end of that year; a long hiatus then ensued, and the remaining 8 were only finally published 6 years later, in 1887. The reason for the delay is not known. When publication resumed, and the entire group was published as a set, some of the prints in the first group were re-issued with different colors .

The series was very popular while Yoshitoshi was alive, and it went through numerous printings. Several different states may be seen of these early printings (all with a red title cartouche); in some (perhaps the earliest, since it was the most work to produce) the text panel has several inclined bokashi stripes across it; in others (perhaps later), a simple band of bokashi at the top and bottom; and in others, no decoration at all.

The entire set was posthumously re-published between 1893 and 1895 by Matsuki Heikichi; paler colours were used, and some block changes were made. The easiest tell-tale for the second publishing is that the title cartouche is no longer red, but grey. The most significant change in most of the prints in that edition was the alteration of the signature: in all of them, the entire signature cartouche was removed, and replaced with a facsimile of the signature Yoshitoshi used toward the end of his life, along with a seal from that period.

Previous cataloguings

	Roger. S. Keyes, "Courage and Silence: A Study of the Life and
		Color Woodblock Prints of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 1839-1892",
		Cinncinnati, 1982

	Eric van den Ing, Robert Schaap, "Beauty and Violence: Japanese
		Prints by Yoshitoshi 1839-1892",
		Havilland, Eindhoven, 1992

We use the Keyes/B+V numbers to order the prints below.

If you have either i) information about any errors on the page, ii) better images than the ones below, please let us know.

The Prints

If we have a higher-quality image, that image can be viewed by clicking on the "Large Image" link, which gives the size of the image (for the benefit of those on slow links). Sometimes there is more than one, as we add images of the second edition.

Thumbnail	Large image	Number	Date	Title (Kanji)	Title (Rōmaji)	Title (English)	Description
	824KB	#1	1881/5	和気 清麻呂 公	Wake (no) Kiyomaro kō	Lord Wake no Kiyomaro	He is shown receiving oracles from the deity of the Usa Hachiman Shrine
		#2	1881/5	贈正一位 菅原 道真 公	?? Sugawara no Michizane kō	Lord Sugawara no Michizane	He is shown praying for a storm on Mt. Tempai
	710KB	#3	1881/5	楠 帯刀 正行	Kusunoki Tatewaki Masatsura		He is shown rescuing Ben no Naishi
		#4	1881/5	曽我 の 箱王丸	Soga no Hakoōmaru		He is shown confronting his enemy Ruda at Hakone
	255KB	#5	1881/5	尾上 の 召仕 お初	Onoe no heyakata Ohatsu	Onoe's chambermaid Ohatsu	Ohatsu avenging her mistress Onoe
	416KB	#6	1881/5	傾城 宮城野 妹 しのぶ	Keisei Miyagino imōto Shinobu	The courtesan Miyagino and her younger sister Shinobu	They are shown plotting to avenge their father's death. The initial 'Shi' of the younger sister's name is written in hentai-gana in the caption; since hentai-gana are not (yet) available in Unicode, it cannot be shown properly in the caption transcription.
	239KB	#7	1881/5	田宮 坊太郎 宗親	Tamiya Bōtarō Munechika		The spirit of the tengu is helping him avenge his father's death
	511KB	#8	1881/5	毛谷邨 の 農六助	Keya-mura no nō Rokusuke	The farmer Rokusuke of Keya village	Osono attacking Keyamura Rokusuke thinking he had killed her father
	437KB	#9	1881/9	加藤 主計 頭 清正	Katō Kazue-no-kami Kiyomasa		Kato Kiyomasa at the fall of Fushimi Castle
	679KB	#10	1881/9	加藤 石動丸	Katō Ishidomaru		He is shown visiting his father who had become a priest
	879KB	#11	1881/9	伊達 家 の 乳人 浅岡	Date-ka no chichinin Masaoka	The wet nurse Masaoka of the Date clan	Masaoka holding her murdered child. The term for 'wet nurse', literally translated, is 'milk person'.
	790KB	#12	1881/12	常盤 御前	Tokiwa Gozen		Tokiwa Gozen and her husband Minamoto no Yoshitomo
	843KB	#13	1881/12	大久保 彦左衛門 忠教	Ōkubo Hikozaemon Tadanori		He is shown rescuing Tokugawa Ieyasu on the battlefield
	434KB	#14	1881/12	大石内 蔵之助 良雄	Ōishi Kura-no-suke Yoshio		Ōishi Yoshio leading the night attack on Kira's mansion. Current scholarship is that his alleged misdirection of spending time in the pleasure quarters was, in fact, just his normal lifestyle.
	389KB	#15	1881/12	吉備 大臣	Kibi Daijin		Now usually known as Kibi no Makibi, he is shown here seated at a Chinese table
	412KB	#16	1881/12	佐藤 四郎兵衛 忠信	Satō Shirōbyōe Tadanobu		Now usually known as Satō Tadanobu, he is shown here leaping from a snowy roof in Yoshino
	420KB	#17	1887/9	弼宰相春衝	Hitsu (no) Saishō Haruhira		He is shown finding his father who had been cruelly imprisoned by the Chinese
	479KB	#18	1887/9	当麻 寺 の 中将 媛	Taima-dera no Chūjō-hime	Princess Chūjō of the Taima Temple	Chūjō-hime drawing thread from a lotus stalk to weave a mandala to appease the spirit of her wicked stepmother
	470KB 812KB	#19	1887/9	日野 阿稚丸	Hino Kumawakamaru		Now known by his adult name, Hino Kumawaka, he is shown being helped by a priest to escape from Sado Island after the death of his father. His name is now written with totally different kanji, 熊若丸.
	853KB 781KB	#20	1887/9	名和 小太郎 左衛門 長重	Nawa Kotarō Saemon Nagashige		Nawa no Nagashige helping Emperor Godaigo escape from Oki Island to Hoki This print has an entirely different background in the second edition.
	410KB	#21	1887/9	袈裟 御前	Kesa Gozen		She is shown writing her last words before dying in place of her husband
	716KB	#22	1887/9	羽柴 筑前 守 秀吉	Hashiba Chikuzen no Kami Hideyoshi		Better known to us now as Toyotomi Hideyoshi, he is shown here cutting the skin of a melon
	465KB 762KB	#23	1887/9	鳥居強右衛門勝高	Torii Suneemon Katsutaka		Now known as Torii Suneemon, he is shown here seeking help from Tokugawa Ieyasu against Takeda Katsuyori
	512KB	#24	1887/9	信濃 国 の 孝子 善之丞	Shinano (no) kuni no kōshi Zen-no-jō	Zen-no-jo, a filial child from Shinano province	In a mirror, he is shown by Enma the demon king of the underword) his father's crimes in a former life

Acknowledgements