Illustrated by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Published by Akiyama Buemon in 1891
Set of three large-size (38×26cm) color woodblock prints (nishiki-e)
Owned by the National Diet Library

This picture shows Kintarō, a Japanese popular folk hero renowned for his prodigious strength, cleaving a kagami mochi, a traditional Japanese New Year rice cake, with a powerful stroke of his trademark big hatchet. Yama-uba, a mountain hag, watches her son.

Between the two is written kurabiraki, when merchant families celebrated the first opening of their kura, storehouses, in the New Year. You can see a wooden armour box, gusoku bitsu, behind Kintarō. Samurai families also celebrated the day as gusoku biraki, cutting and eating the mochi that had been offered to their weapons and armour.

Kintarō is said to be the childhood name of Sakata no Kintoki, a famous valiant samurai of the end of the Heian period. Hence, pictures of Kintarō were regarded as good luck charms for the New Year, carrying the wish of the parents for their boys’ health and success in life. In this picture, well-dressed Kintarō handily cleaves kagami mochi and his mother Yama-uba, often depicted as old and ugly, is portrayed as a beautiful young lady looking at Kintarō calmly and tenderly. The colorful portrait of the mother and son is a suitable design for the New Year.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) was an ukiyo-e artist from the end of the Edo to the Meiji period. He produced pictures under a wide variety of themes including beautiful women (Bijinga), everyday life, folk stories and history. This picture is a remarkable piece of work in his later life.

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