Takeda Hideo Subverts Samurai Mythology in ‘Genpei: Defying Authority’

This weekend, the Princeton University Art Museum will present Takeda Hideo‘s Genpei: Defying Authority. Curated by Kit Brooks, the museum’s Curator of Asian Art, the exhibition brings together all 22 screenprints from the Japanese artist”s celebrated Genpei series (produced between 1985 and 1999) to the US for the very first time.

The showcase offers a provocative, modern reinterpretation of The Tale of the Heike, the 12th-century medieval war epic recounting the Genpei War between the rival Minamoto and Taira clans. Instead of glorifying samurai valor, Takeda’s prints employ bold colors, tattooed figures and satirical distortions to expose the absurdity and violence at the heart of the narrative.

The exhibition highlights Takeda’s irreverent approach to history, recasting legendary figures such as Yoshitsune and Taira no Kiyomori in grotesque, unsettling forms that undermine traditional ideals of masculinity and heroism. His use of full-body tattoos – an anachronistic reference to Japan’s modern criminal underworld – transforms the Genpei War into a clash of rival gangs rather than noble warriors.

As curator Kit Brooks explains: “I’ve been thinking about Takeda’s work ever since I first encountered it at the British Museum 19 years ago, so it’s an honor to present the complete Genpei series in the United States for the first time. Taken together, the exhibition is a rare opportunity to examine Takeda’s work in its full complexity. In the context of the Museum’s collections that span centuries of Japanese art, Genpei’s cynical perspective on Japanese history vividly captures the social upheavals and changing attitudes of the twentieth century.”

The exhibition features key works from the series that dismantle the conventional heroic narratives of warrior culture. In “The Mark of the Fan” (1985), Takeda transforms a famous historical moment of archery skill into a surreal composition where a warrior navigates a sea of submerged, tattooed limbs, while in “The Final Illness of Taira Kiyomori” (1985), the warlord is depicted tormented on his deathbed by a feverish, demonic presence.

Elsewhere, in “Surprise Attack at Hiyodorigoe” (1985), warriors ride naked women instead of horses down a steep incline, and in “The Death of Yoshitsune” (1999), legendary figures are rendered with deliberately ambiguous, feminized bodily traits at the moment of defeat.

On view in the museum’s new Allen Adler & Frances Beatty Adler Gallery, the showcase pairs Takeda’s complete silkscreen portfolio with contextual historical materials, postwar photography and an accompanying book that reevaluates Takeda’s radical contribution to 20th-century printmaking.

Princeton University Art Museum
45 Elm Dr, Princeton, NJ 08544, United States