Maeyama Koshin

A woven rattan pipe case of muso-zutsu form, decorated in lacquer with a galloping black horse, a sparse scattering of cherry blossom petals at its feet and floating down from above. Cherry blossom is associated with the warrior Kagesue, who is sometimes depicted riding into his final battle with a branch of blossom tucked into his armour. There are also woodblock prints showing his wife accompanied by a girl carrying a branch of blossom. This depiction, however, refers to an earlier and happier episode recorded in the Heikei Monogatari (Tales of Heikei) when he issued a friendly challenge to Sasaki Takatsuna to race across the Uji river on horseback. For his steed he rode Yoritomo’s black horse, Surusumi.