National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

Gosannen Kassen is a battle where Minamoto no Yoshiie (Hachiman Taro), the governor of Mutsu, defeated the Kiyohara clan of Dewa by taking advantage of their inner conflict. Following the Zen Kunen no Eki (battles that took place in Oshu in the late Heian period), the Gosannen Kassen began in 1083 and ended in 1087 when Yoshiie seized Kanazawa-saku, a stronghold of Kiyohara no Iehira and others, subjugating the Oshu region.
This is a standard work of 1347 and the oldest one among existing picture scrolls on the Gosannen Kassen. Currently, three volumes remain, but since the original scroll is believed to have been comprised of six volumes, the scene of the first half of the battle must have been lost. The lost legend, however, can be complemented by Oshu Gosannen-ki written by Gen-e, a learned priest of Mt. Hiei.
The legend is faithfully pictorialized, where the bloodiness of the battle and slaughter is intensified by the repetition of identical composition, showing the process of the gradual fall of Kanazawasaku. Based on the postscript of each volume, it is known that the first volume was written by Chuchoku, the middle volume by Jimyoin Yasunobu and the last volume by Sesonji Yukitada and that the pictures of all volumes were drawn by Hidanokami Korehisa, although the details of the painter are unknown.