Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace (second half of the 13th century)

Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace from the Illustrated Scrolls of the Events of the Heiji Era
「 平治物語絵巻」〈三条殿夜討巻〉

Universally acclaimed as the most powerful battle scene in all of Japanese art, Night Attack on the Sanjō Palace chronicles Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa’s violent abduction from his palace in 1159. The event took place during the Heiji Rebellion, one of a number of civil wars in the second half of the 12th century that marked the end of aristocratic rule and the rise of governance by the military. Progressing in time and space, the scroll begins at right with a text describing an early morning attack by several hundred warriors under the leadership of the upstart courtier Fujiwara no Nobuyori and his henchman Minamoto no Yoshitomo.

Fenollosa-Weld Collection, 1911 11.4000