Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 01/01/1797 – 04/14/1861)
No. 20 ( 二十): Tokuda Sadaemon Yukitaka (徳田貞右衛門行高) from the series Stories of the True Loyalty of the Faithful Samurai (Seichū gishi den - 誠忠義士傳)
1847
9.75 in x 14.25 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Artist's seal: kiri
Publisher: Ebiya Rinnosuke
(Marks 040 - seal not listed)
Censor's seal: Mera and Murata
Number 20: 二廿
Waseda University
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Tokyo Metropolitan Library
British Museum
Edo-Tokyo Museum
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
The Pushkin State Museum The dentate pattern on this print is a give away that it is a Chūshingura-themed prints. But not all prints devoted to this story show these designs. "The distinctive dentate pattern on the coats is an iconographical motif which represents the inescapable progress of day and night, symbolizing unfailing loyalty."
Quoted from: 'Mitate kokkei Chūshingura. Hiroshige's humorous parodies of the Loyal Retainers' by Pierre Wijermans and Henk Herwig, fn. 32, p. 73.
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The number 20 ( 二十) appears in a circular seal immediately below the publisher's seal.
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The author of this text is Ippitsu-an (一筆庵誌).
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Illustrated in Kuniyoshi: The Faithful Samurai by David R. Weinberg, 2000, #I.20.
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The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston narrow the publication date for this print to between the 7th and 12th month of 1847.
Ebiya Rinnosuke (海老屋林之助) (publisher)
Chūshingura (忠臣蔵 - 47 rōnin) (genre)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)