42 Kobayashi Kiyochika 1847 – 1915 Uesugi Kagetora

Japan, February 1888

This print, number 28 from the series Kyōdō risshi no motoi (Instructive Models of Lofty Ambition), was designed by Kobayashi Kiyochika. The composition pictures a young boy holding a croquet-like mallet (likely for the traditional game of gitchō), gesturing from a veranda towards a kneeling samurai. While the print is titled Uesugi Kagetora, historical sources differ on the exact identity of the figure. The text in the scroll-like cartouche (composed by Yoshikawa Yutaka) identifies him as the fourth son of the warrior Nagao Tamekage. According to most historians (e.g., S. Turnbull), this is a depiction of the childhood of the famous daimyo and warrior who would later be known as Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578), one of the most powerful warlords of the Sengoku period. His childhood name was Torachiyo, and upon coming of age, he became Nagao Kagetora. Kiyochika contributed a total of 20 prints to this series.