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Description
Yoshitoshi here depicts an incident in which the 12th-century samurai Nitta Shirō Tadatsune discovered a mysterious cave on Mt. Fuji. While his companions were afraid to enter, the samurai seized a torch and entered the darkness. In a large cavern within, Nitta was greeted by a deity--according to Buddhists an apparition of the bodhisattva Kannon; according to Shinto the spirit of Mt Fuji. Whichever, Nitta conversed calmly with the goddess while his retainers fearfully waited outside the cave. Before vanishing, the goddess commended Nitta for his bravery. Yoshitoshi shows Nitta dressed in his hunting deerskins grasping a flaming branch as he advances in to the misty, bat-filled darkness.
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