Come see me at the Kryolan Professional Makeup booth at IMATS New York, April 14 to see the painted body I’ve designed based on this image research and the story of the battle between Watanabe no Tsuna and the Irabaki Demon.
I had no idea this story was such a well known legend until I did a Google Image search of “Watanabe No Tsuna” and turned up a lot of results, many of them depictions of the battle with the Irabaki Demon. Here are a few:
Depicting the demon having recovered her arm - by Kiyotada
This 1820 woodcut has the samurai on horseback as he battles the demon
I found three versions by Kuniyoshi, my go-to guy for inspiration in Japanese art
The 3 by Kuniyoshi depict the moment when Tsuna is cutting off the arm
And in them, Tsuna is grabbing the demon's arm with one hand and swinging his sword with the other
The book I have of Kuniyoshi prints also includes a few of his rough sketches. This one I am using as the model for Tsuna as he confronts the demon on the bridge
a cool illustration of the legend as a Kabuki play
This print by Kunisada depicts Tsuna as one of the 4 companions of samurai Raiko in his battle against the Earth Spider -- which is a Japanese legend I've told around Halloween for a few years.
Related articles
- The Legendary Watanabe no Tsuna Battles the Ibaraki Demon at Rashomon Bridge (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Storytelling in Japanese Art – Onmyoji and Raiko: Super Heroes Team-Up (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Why Body Painting?—2: Ultimate Collaboration—MODELS, Pt.2: Just how much a model can help, Amber and Kuniyoshi at FABAIC 2011
- Li Chi Slays the Dragon — LIVE at PIFA — storytelling
- Waking up to a joke…a song…a story – Bruce Springsteen and Jon Stewart’s take (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Kumadori – Japanese Kabuki Theatre Makeup (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Old School Style Magical Realism and Quantum Mechanics (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- Oshiguma ― Kumadori ― Japanese Kabuki Theatre Makeup Prints ― “Leaving an Impression” (thestorybehindthefaces.com)
- The rootless woodblock prints of Kuniyoshi (japantimes.co.jp)
- Definition: Tebori (bellasugar.com)