(from Field Museum of Natural History Bulletin, June 1988, "Traditions in Japanese Art: The Boone Collection," by Suzanne Arata and Carolyn Moore with modifications by Field Museum staff, pg. 15)
Photo © The Field Museum A110807c
"An arrow, shot by a mounted archer, has just struck a fan which is seen flying through the air. The fan has broken loose from the ship. This is an allusion to a famous incident from the medieval tragedy Tale of Heike, which describes the battle between the Minamoto and Taira clans during the late 12th century.
"The fan, which bears the design of hi no maru, the sun disc, was presented to the child emperor of the Taira, the ruling family, after they were driven from the capital, Kyoto, by the Minamoto in 1182. The fan was said to be symbolic of the spirit of the dead emperor and magically empowered to deflect arrows back upon the enemy. Thus, with the fan attached to the mast of the Taira ship, a challenge was sent to the Minamoto clan. Nasu no Yoichi, a skilled archer, responded to the challenge, rode on horseback into the waves and struck the fan with his arrow, achieving a signal victory for the Minamoto.
"This painting is carefully controlled in both composition and style. The logically receding size of objects, leading the viewer's eye back into the far distance, and the fine rendering of each element with historical accuracy suggests Western influence.
"Little is known of Hosai except that he was a Tokyo painter specializing in historical subjects, who studied with the popular Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-92), one of the last of the great printmakers. Yoshitoshi himself worked in a mixture of ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world," which dealt with themes of everyday life) and Yamato-e (Japanese traditional, naturalistic, style of painting), and his work reflects an increasing Western influence with historical and heroic subjects. In these respects it would appear that Hosai followed the master."