The Warrior Miura-no-suke Confronting the Court Lady Tamamo-no-mae as She Turns into an Evil Fox with Nine Tails 1826 - 1829

Curator: This woodblock print, created between 1826 and 1829 by Yashima Gakutei, is entitled "The Warrior Miura-no-suke Confronting the Court Lady Tamamo-no-mae as She Turns into an Evil Fox with Nine Tails." Editor: Whew! What a title. My first thought is "dramatic!" The contrast between the ghostly lady and the determined warrior, set against that stark black backdrop with a creepy moon... It just screams melodrama. Curator: Melodrama with deep roots. Tamamo-no-mae is a fascinating figure; she appears in Japanese folklore as a cunning and powerful kitsune, or fox spirit, who infiltrated the court disguised as a beautiful woman. She represents the anxieties surrounding female power and deception that ran throughout feudal Japan. Editor: Anxieties, huh? Well, she certainly does look unsettling with that vacant stare and...are those nine tails sprouting out of her? The artist didn't hold back! I'm thinking she is like a historical reflection of, like, male paranoia towards intelligent, ambitious women... and her expression! Gives me the shivers. Curator: Exactly. The artist is playing with visual tropes to heighten that effect. The black background emphasizes the stark moral contrast—light versus dark, good versus evil. Miura-no-suke is a heroic figure defending the realm from chaos, order against the monstrous feminine. But we can read it intersectionally: The legend resonates with similar patriarchal narratives around powerful, transgressive women. Editor: You are so right. I'm still caught up by her stillness in comparison to his poised tension with the bow and arrow... I can almost feel that twang as the arrow is about to leave! Her pose kind of throws the whole idea of moral panic into chaos for me as she passively undergoes this... transformation? It's weirdly beautiful and unsettling. Curator: This print in the Met’s collection becomes more than just a depiction of an old folktale; it serves as a platform to analyze broader themes around gender and social expectations, but I see how her ambiguous posture does not entirely allow one to immediately write her off as a mere caricature of patriarchal anxieties! Editor: I feel the pull in both directions; folklore does this weird dance of preservation, while always transforming under the light of the times! Fascinating, as ever. Curator: Agreed.