The Floating World
The Ghosts of the Taira Attack Yoshitsune’s Ship in Daimotsu Bay
Utagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1849–1851
What it is
Fleeing across Daimotsu Bay, Yoshitsune’s ship is set upon by the drowned dead of the Taira clan — the warrior Tomomori foremost, rising from the waves with the anchor that carried him down at Dan-no-ura.
Why it matters
Kuniyoshi fuses the great sea battle’s aftermath with the Noh play Funa Benkei: history’s losers return as weather, and only Benkei’s prayers, not swords, can answer them.
What to notice
The ghosts are printed in the colors of deep water, half-dissolved where they meet the waves — dead and sea share one substance; the living crew is the only warm color in the storm.
"The sea keeps what the war threw into it."
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (1798–1861)
- Date
- c. 1849–1851
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Metropolitan Museum of Art · JP1565
Impression note. The design turns on its cold palette: fine impressions keep the ghosts’ grey-blue pallor distinct from the black storm sea, and the spray across the three sheets prints as fine unbroken keyblock lacework. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
A triptych — sold as a three-panel set, priced below three singles.
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
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