Tokugawa with help from the Jodo monks of the Daijuji temple in Okizaki, defeats the Ikkō ikki at the battle of Azukizaka 

Curator: The print before us captures a particularly vivid scene of feudal conflict, illustrating Tokugawa with assistance from the Jodo monks of the Daijuji temple in Okazaki, as they defeat the Ikkō-ikki at the battle of Azukizaka. The piece comes to us from the prolific hand of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Editor: Well, it's a proper brawl, isn’t it? Chaos distilled onto paper. Look at those slashing lines, all that raw energy – it feels like you could reach out and get nicked by a katana. Sort of makes you wonder what it smelled like…gunpowder and fear, I’d imagine? Curator: Yoshitoshi's engagement with violence needs to be viewed within the context of the late Edo and early Meiji periods. Such prints had complex role to valorize military virtues while the Tokugawa shogunate underwent dramatic reforms to adapt itself to an emerging global stage. Editor: Valorize? Maybe. But there’s something more primal happening here, too. The faces aren't idealized, are they? They're twisted in rage, fear. He really humanizes them, doesn’t he, even amid all the clang and clamor. I'd guess the public saw themselves somewhere in this melee. Curator: Precisely, though the woodblock printing process inevitably brought about a kind of aesthetic detachment. Even so, Yoshitoshi captured both the spectacle of warfare and the individual agonies that comprised it. Red was essential for rendering a certain pathos around fallen figures... Editor: All that red does turn your stomach, a bit! Sort of gushing out over the composition. And the way he crams everything in, like a mosh pit of warriors. It makes your pulse quicken. No matter who’s “winning,” nobody gets out unscathed, do they? It's also sort of terrifying that this moment was captured and disseminated widely. Did anyone involved ever see the rendering? Curator: Possibly some! Prints circulated amongst varying classes during that period, spreading awareness of conflicts, but also potentially solidifying perceptions of historical actors in line with political ends. Remember that many commissioned prints directly furthered political narratives... Editor: It definitely worked! Here we are hundreds of years later and talking about a battle whose cultural implications and consequences ripple through time. It all makes me think that Yoshitoshi didn't so much record history, but rewrote it in ink. A lot of these images, they take on an interesting political dimension. Thanks for pointing some out. Curator: It's true that in doing so, the artist left behind potent historical reflections on power, perspective and remembrance. Thank you, I find it amazing that so many things could be encoded here!