Where Cao Cao
Nanpeizan shogetsu - Soso

No. 3 from the series: Tsuki no hyakushi (One Hundred Aspects of the Moon)
1885
Seal: Taiso

Engraver: Enkatsu
Oban
nishiki-e

A beautiful impression with vibrant colors.

This print is inspired by a famous episode from the Sanguo yanyi, the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, a semi-historical narrative written in the 14th century and still widely read by modern Chinese.

It evokes the civil wars that tore China apart at the beginning of the 3rd century, when the Han Empire fragmented into three kingdoms.

The main character, Cao Cao (Sōsō in Japanese), was the son of a low-ranking soldier. He rose to prominence by crushing the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184. After driving the rebels out of Shandong province in northeastern China, he used this base to try to seize the imperial throne—he failed, but his son became the first emperor of the Wei dynasty. Cao Cao lived for intrigue and treachery, and although he may seem like an anti-hero, he is one of the most compelling protagonists in the story, portrayed as a courageous and determined man.
Here he is seen crossing the Changjiang (the Yangtze, or "Blue River") at night, on the eve of the decisive Battle of Red Cliffs.At the head of a fleet of some 830,000 men, he stands at the prow of his ship: Yoshitoshi cuts a figure of admirable bearing. Fabrics billow in the wind, mist blankets the river. The moon rises in the distance behind the cliff, and two ravens fly in the sky.
In the novel, Cao Cao holds a grand banquet on the eve of battle, in the company of his generals. Annoyed by the cawing of some ravens, he asks why the birds utter this ominous cry in the night: it is, he is told, because the full moon prevents them from sleeping. Quite drunk, he dismisses the dire omen by brandishing the great spear seen in Yoshitoshi's work: he will triumph, he proclaims, as he has always triumphed. One of his men reminds him that circumstances demand caution: Cao Cao kills him, then, in the suddenly gloomy atmosphere, gives his orders for battle. It will be a crushing defeat.
The educated Japanese of Yoshitoshi's time were familiar with such borrowings from the great Chinese literature, whose sovereign influence had permeated Japanese culture for centuries. A fifth of the stories illustrated in the series refer to China.
In the title cartouche, one notices that the name Cao Cao is carefully written in classical, very regular Chinese characters. According to a Chinese saying, "Speak of Cao Cao, and Cao Cao appears."

In: ONE HUNDRED ASPECTS OF THE MOON, John Stevenson, 2018, Editions Citadelles et Mazenod

The series "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon," inspired by historical and legendary tales from China and Japan, is Yoshitoshi's most famous work, begun in 1885 and completed just before his death in 1892. Even then, each new print published was an event, with prints often selling out the morning of their release.