Migita Toshihide (1863-1925) Japanese, Long Woodblock Print. This piece is comprised on the left two parts of a triptych entitled "Kimura Matazo defeats Shimada Gon'emon at the battle of Anegawa." It depicts the eponymous warriors swinging their swords at each other in front of a bamboo copse next to a lake. Two layered squares full of kanji at the top left and a signature below it contains information about the work and the artist. This is a counterpart to another piece in the auction by the same artist, the third part of the triptych. The piece comes with matting that bears repeating floral patterns geometrically arranged, inside a faux bamboo frame. The artist name and the date 1890 are written in marker on the back of the frame. 

Overall Size: 20 1/4 x 25 in. 

Sight Size: 13 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. 

Migita Toshihide was born on August 1st, 1863 in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan and apprenticed to Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, creating traditional ukiyo-e prints. He was so prolific that he was known as Oju Toshihide or sometimes simply Toshihide, and after studying with Kinisawa Shimburō who had traveled to Britain to train in Western styles his own work began to reflect this influence as well. His kabuki actor (yakusha-e) portraits were well known in his lifetime, and starting in 1877 his work was published in newspapers and magazines as he began to create war prints. His early triptychs depicted famous early battles and samurai scenes, but his later pieces are considered important historical documents as he strove to cover Japan’s participation in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) and the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05), reflecting both a change in fashion and in stylistic depiction of bloodshed, nationalism, and the stark reality of their consequences. He died on February 4th, 1925, and is considered a major influence on shifting artistic norms at the end of the Meiji era.

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