Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
The Syllable Ma ま: Hayano Wasuke Tsunenari 早野和助常成, from the series Mirror of the True Loyalty of Each of the Faithful Retainers (Seichū gishin meimei kagami - 誠忠義臣名々鏡)
03/1857
9.5 in x 14.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
and Yoshitori-jo ga (inset - 芳鳥女画)
Publisher: Horikoshi (Marks U077 seal 21-073)
Lower right the syllable 'ma' ま in diamond
Censor's seal: aratame
Date seal: 3/1857
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum
National Diet Library
National Museums of Scotland The title of this series appears, written in white characters, on the black tsuba cartouche in the upper right along with the tomoe motif found somewhere on numerous Chūshingura related prints.
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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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There is another copy of this print in the Edo-Tokyo Museum.
Horikoshi (掘越) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Chūshingura (忠臣蔵 - 47 Rōnin) (genre)