Description
Precious polychrome woodblock print depicting in the foreground the beautiful daughter of the warlord Satomi Yoshizane (里見義実): Princess Fuse (伏姫). The woman, following a mysterious union with her father’s dog, conceived eight crystal balls that dispersed in the air and from which the Hakkenshi (八犬士) “eight dog warriors” would be born. In the upper inset, Kanamari Daisuke (金鞠大助), the former retainer of her father who, sixteen years after that event, set out in search of the eight half-brothers.
The work, taken from the series “Playful Comparisons of Pictures” (擬絵当合) by the artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞), was produced in December 1861 by the publisher Ebisuya Shoshichi (恵比寿屋庄七), owner of Kinshodo (錦昇堂), and by the carver Yokokawa Takejiro (横川竹二郎).
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the presence of small restorations and a partial trimming of the margins, is in overall good condition.
