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This triptych illustrates an episode from the life of the popular hero Yoshitsune (1159-89), who was also known as Ushiwaka-maru (young ox).<br/><br/> On one of his nightly outings from the temple, 12-year-old Yoshitsune encountered Benkei on the Gojo Bridge in Kyoto. Benkei, a wild giant of a man, had been told by a sword-smith that he could forge a magic sword from the tips and cutting edges of a thousand blades. He obtained the swords by attacking samurai warriors crossing the Gojo Bridge.<br/><br/> One night he saw the young Ushiwaka approaching; he was carrying what would be his one-thousandth sword. Benkei attacked him without delay, but the youth was too quick for him and managed to defeat him. Benkei was so impressed that he promised to serve and follow Ushiwaka.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839 – June 9, 1892), also named Taiso Yoshitoshi, was a Japanese artist. He is widely recognized as the last great master of Ukiyo-e, a type of Japanese woodblock printing. He is additionally regarded as one of the form's greatest innovators. His career spanned two eras – the last years of feudal Japan, and the first years of modern Japan following the Meiji Restoration. Like many Japanese, Yoshitoshi was interested in new things from the rest of the world, but over time he became increasingly concerned with the loss of many outstanding aspects of traditional Japanese culture, among them traditional woodblock printing.