Artist: Utagawa Yoshitsuya 歌川芳艶 (1822–1866), pupil of Kuniyoshi Series: Hisago Gundan Gojūyonjō 瓢軍談五十四場 (Fifty-four Scenes of the Gourd War Tales), No. 1 (第壹) Title: Kajizuka Yoroku Yahagi no hashi nite Sarunosuke ni mamiyu 梶塚与六矢矧の橋にて猿之助に見ゆ (Kajizuka Yoroku meets Sarunosuke at Yahagi Bridge) Format: Ōban tate-e, approx. 25 × 36 cm Technique: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and colour on paper Date: 1864 (Genji 1), 9th month, censor seal 子九改 (Rat-9, aratame) Publisher: Tsutaya Kichizō 蔦屋吉蔵 (Tsutakichi) Signature: 一英斎芳艶画 (Ichieisai Yoshitsuya ga), in yoshi-shaped cartouche ________________________________________________________ CONDITION Very good colours and impression; the paper has some minor soiling along the left margin. The paper is firm and subtle. Very good condition overall! Please check the images! ________________________________________________________ ABOUT THE PRINT This is the opening sheet of Hisago Gundan Gojūyonjō, Yoshitsuya's 54-print series on the rise of Toyotomi Hideyoshi. It follows his life from his first meeting with Hachisuka Koroku on the Yahagi Bridge to the fall of Odawara Castle. The "gourd" (hisago) in the title is Hideyoshi's famous gourd standard. Under the Tokugawa government, prints about the Toyotomi could not name them openly, so the characters use disguised names. Sarunosuke ("the monkey") is the young Hideyoshi, and Kajizuka Yoroku is Hachisuka Koroku, the Owari bandit leader who later became one of his most loyal generals. The scene shows the legendary meeting that opens every Taikōki story. The penniless youth is sleeping on the Yahagi Bridge at Okazaki, on the Tōkaidō, when Koroku's band passes by at night. The boy stands up to the chief, Koroku is impressed by his nerve, and this encounter starts Hideyoshi's career. Yoshitsuya was one of Kuniyoshi's leading pupils and followed his master in specialising in warrior prints. He designed this series in 1864, two years before his death.