Utagawa Kuniyoshi
Production date:1844-47

Since the name “Sasaki Takatsuna” is written right beside the figure on horseback, the illustrated scene seems like an episode of Takatsuna. However, the anecdote illustrated in this picture is Akechi Samanosuke’s (the Samurai of the wartime period, the son-in-low of Akechi Mitsuhide) grate crossing of Lake Biwa on horseback, when he was defeated and all the land routes were blocked by the enemy. During Edo period, when it was prohibited to illustrate the warrior of wartime period, artists used the image of the different episodes to make excuses to the pictures.
According to the caption, Ueno Village located near Shono was the place where Takatsuna’s horse “Ikezuki”’s was born.