Artist: Utagawa Sadahide 歌川貞秀 (1807–1873), signed Gyokuransai Sadahide ga (玉蘭齋貞秀画) Subject: Kumasaka Chōhan 熊坂長範 and his gang beneath the Lookout Pine (monomi no matsu 物見の松) Text panel: headed 繍像略傳史 (Shūzō ryakudenshi, reading provisional), written by Ryūkatei Tanekazu 柳下亭種員誌 Date: c. 1847–1852 (Kōka–Kaei era) Technique: Woodblock print (mokuhanga), nishiki-e (polychrome) Format: Ōban tate-e triptych (three sheets each approx. 24*36cm) Seals: censor seals and a publisher's mark on each sheet -------------------------------------------------------- CONDITION The impression is strong and the details are well preserved. The colors tones have shifted because of some sunfading, but the colours remain saturated. The sheets are firm and supple, with some minor soiling in the margins and minor wormholes at the bottom of the lest sheet. Good condition overall! --------------------------------------------------------------------- The Scene Kumasaka Chōhan is the legendary master thief of the Yoshitsune cycle. The young Ushiwakamaru, the future Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was travelling north to the Fujiwara lord Hidehira in Ōshū with the gold merchant Kichiji. Chōhan's gang went after Kichiji's goods, and Ushiwakamaru killed Chōhan in the fight. The sources disagree on where this happened. The kōwakamai Eboshi-ori and the Noh play Genzai Kumasaka place the attack at Aohaka in Mino Province, while the Noh Eboshi-ori and Kumasaka place it at Akasaka. The Gikeiki does not name Chōhan at all: it gives the robbers as Fujisawa Nyūdō and Yuri no Tarō, and sets the attack at Kagami in Ōmi. Both of those names also appear here among the cartouches, as Fujisawa Nyūdō and Yuri no Tarō. Sadahide seems to have brought both traditions into one gang. Many places claimed a relic of the legend. The most famous was Kumasaka Chōhan's Lookout Pine on Aonogahara in Mino, with his "seat rock" and "hidden stable" nearby. A pine at Ayado in Tarui, Gifu Prefecture, is still shown today as the Lookout Pine. In the traditional telling, Chōhan watched the highway from the top of a huge pine and picked out his victims below. Sadahide sets the whole gang under the tree, with each rogue identified by a name cartouche. Chōhan sits at the centre in a black robe over his armour while a gang member pours sake into a huge red lacquer cup. One lookout scans the road from a high branch while another climbs the trunk. On the right, the gang gathers with a wide assortment of weapons, including a large axe, an oversized mallet, a saw and a hoe. On the far left, the cartouches name Ushiwakamaru and Kichiji themselves, the intended victims. The text panel by the gesaku writer Ryūkatei Tanekazu retells Chōhan's career.