• [Nakamura Shikan IV] as Kagekiyo (景清) below and Okawa Tomoemon (大川友右工門) above from the series <i>Modern Style Set of the Provinces in Edo Brocade</i> (<i>Kōto nishiki imayō kuni zukushi</i> - 江都錦今様国盡) - Higo province (肥後) and Hyūga province (日向)
[Nakamura Shikan IV] as Kagekiyo (景清) below and Okawa Tomoemon (大川友右工門) above from the series <i>Modern Style Set of the Provinces in Edo Brocade</i> (<i>Kōto nishiki imayō kuni zukushi</i> - 江都錦今様国盡) - Higo province (肥後) and Hyūga province (日向)
[Nakamura Shikan IV] as Kagekiyo (景清) below and Okawa Tomoemon (大川友右工門) above from the series <i>Modern Style Set of the Provinces in Edo Brocade</i> (<i>Kōto nishiki imayō kuni zukushi</i> - 江都錦今様国盡) - Higo province (肥後) and Hyūga province (日向)
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Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)

[Nakamura Shikan IV] as Kagekiyo (景清) below and Okawa Tomoemon (大川友右工門) above from the series Modern Style Set of the Provinces in Edo Brocade (Kōto nishiki imayō kuni zukushi - 江都錦今様国盡) - Higo province (肥後) and Hyūga province (日向)

Print

08/1852
9.75 in x 14.125 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Publisher: Yamaguchiya Tōbei
(Marks 591 - seal not listed)
Date seal: 1852, 7th month
Censor seals: Murata and Kinugasa
British Museum
Waseda University
National Diet Library
Lyon Collection - another print from this series "A set of at least thirty-six prints designed by Kuniyoshi in 1852 for the publisher Yamaguchiya Tōbei [and others]. Famous stories and heroes of different provinces are depicted two at a time."

Quoted from: Catalogue of the Collection of Japanese Prints - Part IV: Hiroshige and the Utagawa school, Rijksprentkabinet, 1984, p. 130.

Each print represents two provinces. In this case the top image shows Okawa Tomoemon in Higo Province, amidst flames, with a scroll in his mouth, committing seppuku. The lower image is of Kagekiyo in exile in Hyūga Province. Notice the smoky cloud in the upper left of that inset. It was supposedly caused by the burning of seaweed.

There is one other print from this series in the Lyon Collection. See #925.

****

There are five other prints in the Lyon Collection which deal with different aspects of Kagekiyo's life. This figure of Kagekiyo is portrayed by Nakamura Shikan IV (景清 / 四代目中村歌右衛門).
Yamaguchiya Tōbei (山口屋藤兵衛) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)
Nakamura Shikan IV (四代目中村芝翫: 7/1860 to January 1899) (actor)
Taira Kagekiyo (平景清) (role)