“Ōtsu-e: Spear-Bearing Attendant”

Click the image to enlarge.

Artist Name
Title: “Ōtsu-e: Spear-Bearing Attendant”
Dimensions: painting：62.7×23.2cm
full length：136.4×32.4cm
Medium: “Ink and Light Color on Paper”
Year: 18th century
Description: The *Yarimochi Yakkō* (Spear-Bearing Attendant) was the figure who walked at the head of a daimyō procession, swinging a long ceremonial spear (*keyari*). It is one of the standard subjects of the “Ten Ōtsu-e Themes” (*Ōtsu-e jisshu*) and was regarded as a talisman ensuring safety during travel. In this work, the vigorous spirit and bold energy of the attendant are vividly conveyed through the lively brushwork.

Ōtsu-e refers to paintings produced and sold as souvenirs to travelers along the Tōkaidō road, particularly around the Ōtani and Oiwake districts near Ōtsu Post Station, on the route leading toward Kyoto. As suggested by the haiku of Matsuo Bashō (1644–1694), “What Buddha was first painted by the brush of Ōtsu-e?”, the earliest Ōtsu-e were primarily Buddhist images.

They became especially popular during the Genroku era (1688–1704), when secular themes gradually increased and the variety of subjects expanded. By the Bunka–Bunsei period (1804–1829), the representative subjects known collectively as the “Ten Ōtsu-e Themes” had been established. By the end of the Edo period, it appears that most other motifs had largely fallen out of production.