Artist: Ogata Gekkō 尾形月耕 (1859–1920) Series: Gishi shijūshichi zu 義士四十七圖 (Pictures of the Forty-seven Loyal Retainers) Title: Kanzaki Yogorō Noriyasu 神崎与五郎則休 Format: Ōban tate-e, approx. 36 × 24 cm Technique: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and colour on paper Date: Meiji period, 1896–1902 (to be confirmed from the margin colophon) Publisher: Matsuki Heikichi 松木平吉 (margin colophon) Signature: 月耕 (Gekkō), with the artist's seal ________________________________________________________ CONDITION Very good colors and strong impression. The paper has minor Soiling/toning and an album backing. Please check the images! ------------------------------------------------------- About the print Kanzaki Yogorō is one of the best-known figures among the forty-seven, mostly because of one famous story. While travelling to Edo on the Tōkaidō, he was provoked by a rough packhorse driver at the Amazake teahouse on the old Hakone road. Because the vendetta was still ahead and he could not risk a public incident, he did not fight back and instead wrote the driver a letter of apology. The episode became a favourite in storytelling and theatre as an example of self-control for the sake of a greater duty, and the teahouse site is still remembered in Hakone as the place where the loyal retainer Kanzaki Yogorō rested. tabi-mag bunka Kanzaki was a low-ranking foot soldier on a small stipend, as Gekkō’s label records, and he joined the Akō house relatively late. He was one of three members of the league with close ties to the neighbouring Mori house of Tsuyama; after the Tsuyama Mori were dissolved, the three entered Asano service and, although newcomers, still took part in the raid on Kira’s mansion. He died by seppuku in 1703 at the age of 38 and is buried at Sengakuji. kodansha In 1702, forty-seven former retainers of Lord Asano of Akō took revenge on Kira Yoshinaka, whose insult had led to their master’s forced suicide. They then surrendered and were sentenced to ritual suicide. The story, known as Chūshingura, became Japan’s national legend of loyalty. Gekkō’s Gishi shijūshichi zu gives one sheet to each of the forty-seven men, with a label stating his rank, stipend and age at death. The set was completed and reissued in 1902 for the 200th anniversary of the vendetta.