First published in 1855, Sato Tadanobu Bravely Resisting Arrest (左藤忠信勇戦芳時が勢を移る圖) depicts a man fighting off a number of attackers with a Goban. But who was he and what is his story?
Satō Tadanobu (佐藤 忠信) was a samurai in service of Minamoto no Yoshitsune who lived between 1161AD and 1186AD. There are two accounts of his death, but which one is real may not be as important to us as which makes for the better story.
The first part of the story is the same in both accounts and is recorded in the Gikeiki (義経記, or Chronicle of Yoshitsune) and involves Tadanobu retreating with his master Minamoto no Yoshitsune's forces to Kyushu, fleeing the advance of his half-brother Minamoto no Yoritomo's army. Sato, serving as rearguard with a few of his men, aided the retreat by donning Yoshitsune's armor and, acting in disguise as Yoshitsune, killing twenty of his pursuers. Though his companions died in the fight, Tadanobu escaped and continued on to Kyoto to take refuge in the house of a woman he knew there.
This is where the stories diverge, and where the subject of this painting comes from:
Telling #1: While staying at his acquaintance's house, he was discovered and attacked. He committed seppuku before he could be captured alive.
Telling #2: Sato Tadanobu was enjoying a game of Go at his acquaintance's house, when he was suddenly attacked by Yoritomo's men. Unable to reach his weapons, he grabbed the Goban he was playing on and proceeded to single-handedly beat a number of armed and armored samurai to death with it before he was able to reach his weapons and commit seppuku, thus evading capture by the overwhelming force.
In the Kabuki plays (such as Yoshino Shizuka Goban Tadanobu and Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura) and Ukiyo prints inspired by this event, Tadanobu is implied to be a Genkurō (fox spirit) due to his cunning impersonation of Yoshitsune.
If you're actually serious, literally just google voter turnout numbers in texas. Also look at how close some races were and compare that to the nonvoting registered voter population. I've seen several analyses of that recently
Here is the TX government record of voter turnout: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/70-92.shtml
Here is the TX government reporting of election results: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/historical/presidential.shtml
2020 Presidential: 66% turnout, 52% of the VAP (voting age population) voted. Trump won by 600k votes, 4.5M of VAP was not registered.
2018 Senatorial: 53% turnout, 42% of VAP turned out. Ted "I posted incest porn on twitter on 9/11" Cruz won by 215k, 4.1M of VAP was not registered.
2018 Gubernatorial: 53% turnout, 42% of VAP turned out. Abbott won by 1.1M, 4.1M of VAP was not registered.
2016 Presidential: 59% turnout, 46% of VAP turned out. Trump won by 800k votes, 4.2M of VAP was not registered.
2012 Presidential: 59% turnout, 44% of VAP turned out. Romney won by 1.2M, 4.6M of VAP was not registered.
2008 Presidential: 60% turnout, 46% of VAP turned out. McCain won by 900k, 4.2M of VAP was not registered.
2004 Presidential: 56% turnout, 47% of VAP turned out. Bush won by 1.7M, 3M of VAP was not registered
2000 Presidential: total blowout for Bush, no two ways about it. He might have plunged us in to a 20 year long war and completely ravished innocent civilians in the middle east, but dont you just want to have a beer with the guy?
44% do not care, 27% intended to register but didn't, 11% are paranoid about voter roles, 9% say it isn't convenient (and Republicans sure have made it inconvenient), and 6% literally don't know how to register. From that same article and polling data, 35% of unregistered voters do not believe their vote will affect the political process, and 30% don't think it'll change election results. AND 40% of these care who wins political races, but don't vote.
These races are not close compared to the number of non-registered VAP. Young people are more left-leaning and show up to the polls at shockingly low rates. Minorities are typically more likely to vote Dem, but turn out at lower rates (partially due to disenfranchisement). If the non-voters voted, many races of the past 30+ years would've been close or Dem.