Description
In the inset visible in the upper part of the right panel of the triptych, the novelist Migita Nobuhiko (右田寅彦), who signs himself under the pseudonym Ryuotei Torahiko (柳塢亭寅彦), says that Hashiba Hideyoshi (羽柴秀吉), the name assumed by Toyotomi Hideyoshi (豊臣秀吉) during the last decade in which he was in the service of Oda Nobunaga (織田信長), after the famous Honnoji Incident (本能寺の変) and on the road to the capital, realized that he was being chased by four samurai of Akechi Mitsuhide (明智光秀). To slow them down, he blocked their way releasing his horse against them and, after taking refuge in a temple, he disguised himself as a monk thus managing to escape his pursuers.
These rare woodblock prints, made by the artist Migita Toshihide (右田年英) and titled “Tale of a Sudden Idea to Escape” (即智挫説), were produced around 1887 by the publisher Akiyama Buemon (秋山武右衛門), owner of Kokkeido (滑稽堂).
The prints on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging and a sign of horizontal folding, are in good general condition.
