Just got back from an opening at the Japan Society, featuring the woodblock prints of Utagawa Kuniyoshi, who died in 1861: 92 years before Alan Moore was born, 125 years before he could have teamed up with Moore to illustrate Watchmen, and 148 years before he could've told a reporter that he actually enjoyed the film very much, and that Zack Snyder was a very talented director, and that...ha ha, he'd rather not venture an opinion about that, but yes, Billy Crudup did do a fine job as Dr. Manhattan.
The print above is entitled Morozumi Masakiyo Kills Himself with a Landmine. What's extraordinary about it, besides its stunning modernity, is that not only is Morozumi Masakiyo killing himself with a landmine, he's simultaneously ramming his head down on his own sword. As the work itself describes it, "Never before had such a death been seen in battle" -- like he was competing in Olympic-level Ritualistic Suicide, and pulled off the equivalent of a quad and some other extremely difficult move (I only know "quad") at the same time. I guess even though he was expected to kill himself in defeat, he wanted to go out a winner.
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