File:Hanging scroll, painting (BM 1881,1210,0.1756 5).jpg

Height: 95.80 centimetres

Width: 33.10 centimetres

Clark 1992

The revenge of the Soga brothers, Juro and Goro, on their father's murderer, Kudo Suketsune, while on a hunting party led by Minamoto no Yoritomo at the base of Mt Fuji in 1193, as related in the military tale 'Soga monogatari', was a classic vendetta much elaborated on in later literature and drama. In the Edo period, in particular, Soga pieces were an indispensable item in the programme of plays at the Kabuki theatres each New Year. In Kabuki versions of the story much attention is given to the love affairs of the brothers - for the women Tora no Gozen and Kewaizaka no Shosho, respectively. Tora was a courtesan of the Chotei house at Oiso in Sagami Province, and here she is portrayed watching from the balcony of the brothel as Juro rides away in the distance. Though the characters are essentially dressed in Edo-period rather than twelfth-century costume, Tora's hair is dressed in the anachronistic 'Shimada' style of the Genroku era (1688-1704), lending an historical touch. Her kimono is decorated with Juro's emblem of plovers.

The chronology of Hiroshige's paintings has not yet been established in detail, but the manner in which this work has been painstakingly executed so that pigment fills almost every corner of the silk is rather different from the later landscapes in which there is considerable use of atmospheric misty transitions in pale ink, perhaps indicating a relatively early date. Paintings and prints of historical subjects are quite rare in Hiroshige's 'oeuvre', but from 1845 to 1846 he designed a series of colour prints entitled 'Soga monogatari zue' ('Illustrations to Tale of the Soga'), including a composition very similar to this painting except that Tora is seated. The painting may be close to the print series in date. There is also a painted version of the composition by Hiroshige's pupil Suzuki Shigenobu (Kanagawa Prefectural Museum), done before he assumed the name Hiroshige II upon Hiroshige's death in 1858.

Literature: Anderson, William, 'Descriptive and Historical Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Paintings in the British Museum'. London, Trustees of the British Museum, 1886, no. 1756.