Japanese Antique Scroll by Shūhō Hand Painted Samurai Minamoto Kakejiku 73"

Antique Japanese Hanging Scroll, Minamoto no Yoshiie on Horseback, Signed Shūhō (秀峰)

Japan, Meiji period (明治時代), c. 1870–1890

Overall: 73" H × 21" W (185 cm × 53 cm)

Painted in ink and mineral pigments on silk, this kakejiku (掛け軸) depicts Minamoto no Yoshiie (源義家, 1041–1108) — the celebrated Heian-period warrior commander known as Hachiman Tarō, "Eldest Son of the God of War" — mounted on a black horse at full stride beneath blossoming cherry trees. Yoshiie wears formal court-military dress: a red and white kariginu patterned with chrysanthemum roundels over a blue kikko-patterned yoroi keikogi, with a lacquered eboshi crowning his head. He carries a full quiver of arrows and holds his yumi at the diagonal, conveying both martial readiness and aristocratic composure. The saddlecloth is rendered in warm ochre with a repeating teardrop motif; the horse's tack includes red lacquered fittings. The cherry blossoms scattered throughout the composition allude to one of the most celebrated episodes in Yoshiie's legend: his pause near the Nakoso Barrier on his return from northern campaigns, where he composed a poem on the falling petals — an image that became inseparable from his heroic persona in the Meiji-period revival of samurai iconography. Background elements of rolling hills and a bamboo fence situate the subject within the classical yamato-e narrative tradition. The painter's signature, 秀峰 (Shūhō), appears in the lower left with a red intaglio seal. Mounting is in two-panel brocade — a fine gold diamond-weave silk with an indigo floral accent band — with bone jiku-saki finials. The title is inscribed 源義家公之圖.

Condition: Silk shows age-appropriate toning. Minor flaking to the lacquer of the eboshi; light soiling to the outer wrapper. Painting surface otherwise intact with strong, unfaded color. Mounting sound.

A handsome example of Meiji-period figurative painting in the classical tradition, depicting one of Japan's most celebrated warrior-heroes in a setting of springtime splendor.