Utagawa Kuniteru II (二代目歌川国輝) (artist 1829 – 1874)
Kanadehon Seichū Sugoroku （仮名手本誠忠壽古六）- game based on the story of the Forty-Seven Ronin (仮名手本忠臣蔵 Kanahedon Chūshingura - 'Copybook of the Treasury of Loyal Retainers')
ca 1849 – 1853
28 in x 20.5 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichyōsai Kuniteru (一勇齋國輝)
Publisher: Izumiya Ichibei (和泉屋市兵衛)
Censor's seals: Fuku and Muramatsu
Tokyo Metropolitan Library A dramatic game. Play begins at the lower right. It appears that the object of the game is to deliver a letter to your lord, who is standing in the largest square located in the upper left. Your life depends on the roll of the dice and each turn tells you what happens next. For example, you steal a wallet, you go to the Yoshiwara, you sell your daughter (so harsh)! But these are all challenges you have to overcome in order to prove your loyalty to your master! There are similarities between the game and the plot and costume of Kanadehon Chūshingura (The 47 Ronin story).
The board is composed of four oban size woodblock prints, trimmed and pasted together to form a single sheet.
The name sugoroku 双六 literally translates "twin sixes" and probably derives from the two six-faced dice rolled to determine game play.
Picture sugoroku 絵双六 was first seen in Japan around the 13th Century but became extremely popular during the Edo period due to inexpensive but elaborate woodblock printmaking. Similar to chutes and ladders games, Sugoroku continued to be popular throughout the Meiji and later periods. Children's magazines frequently included sugoroku as inserts.
sugoroku (双六) (genre)
Izumiya Ichibei (和泉屋市兵衛) (publisher)
Chūshingura - the play (忠臣蔵 - 47 rōnin) (author)