Saito Kuranosuke was a 16th-century retainer of Akechi Mitsuhide, the warrior who killed Oda Nobunaga in 1582. Once Toyotomi Hideyoshi killed Mitsuhide and defeated his forces at Yamazaki, Saito Kuranosuke and his son, Toshimitsu, fled to Katada in Omi province. Here, they sought safety in the home of his former nurse. Kuranosuke fell ill with a high fever and was captured by his enemies. He wa executed and his son became a monk. In Yoshitoshi’s design, Kuranosuke looks over his shoulder to the fence of his former nurse’s house–the place where he will meet his end. His horse casts its eyes up towards its rider, expressing the same uneasiness gnawing at Kuranosuke. In the background, Lake Biwa reflects the silver moonlight.
First Appearance Historical figure (b. 1534 – d. 1582)
First Publisher ○
Appearance List Jesuit eyewitness material on 1582 (Fróis, etc.) — the Honnōji context that frames Toshimitsu’s last year; Taikōki (1626) — early-Edo biography of Toyotomi Hideyoshi by Oze Hoan; Akechi gunki (1697; Edo war tale) — Earliest dedicated narrative of the Akechi; Taiko: An Epic Novel of War and Glory in Feudal Japan (1930s) by Yoshikawa Eiji; Shinsho Taikōki (1939–41; compiled 1967) — Yoshikawa’s novelized Hideyoshi saga; Kunitori Monogatari serialized novel in Sunday Mainichi (1963–1966) by Ryōtarō Shiba; Japonius Tyrannus: Oda Nobunaga Reconsidered (Hotei, 2000) by Jeroen P. Lamers; The Chronicle of Lord Nobunaga (2011) by Ōta Gyūichi. Film: Fū-unji: Oda Nobunaga (1959). Ukiyo-e: “One Hundred Aspects of the Moon: Katada Bay Moon — Saitō Kuranosuke” (1888) by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi.
Description Saito Kuranosuke was a 16th-century retainer of Akechi Mitsuhide, the warrior who killed Oda Nobunaga in 1582. Once Toyotomi Hideyoshi killed Mitsuhide and defeated his forces at Yamazaki, Saito Kuranosuke and his son, Toshimitsu, fled to Katada in Omi province. Here, they sought safety in the home of his former nurse. Kuranosuke fell ill with a high fever and was captured by his enemies. He wa executed and his son became a monk. In Yoshitoshi’s design, Kuranosuke looks over his shoulder to the fence of his former nurse’s house–the place where he will meet his end. His horse casts its eyes up towards its rider, expressing the same uneasiness gnawing at Kuranosuke. In the background, Lake Biwa reflects the silver moonlight.
