Great Generals of the East and West

One of the largest paintings by Yoshitoshi, this is also one of the most mysterious. The six people from right to left are the warlord and unifier of Japan Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598), as a child with dog; the first shogun of the Edo period (1603–1868), Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616); the first president of the United States, George Washington (1732–1799), as a drummer boy during the American Civil War; the feudal lord Mōri Motonari (1497–1571); Date Masamune (1579–1636), the Lord of Sendai; and the emperor of France Napoleon III (1808–1873). The signature indicates that this painting was commissioned, and the signature style puts the date at around 1874. Napoleon III’s death in 1873 might have been the stimulus. But the meaning of this painting, including such puzzling elements as the boiling kettle, remains unclear. Yoshitoshi’s humongous seal on the left includes a line from the “Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup, ” a poem attributed to the Chinese poet Du Fu (712–770): his brush produces cloud and mist (Chin. huihao luo zhi ru yunyan).