Description
Fine original woodblock print of vertical large oban (大判) format entitled “Hiratsuka in Sagami Province: The Love Story of the Scarf” (平塚相模 帍の恋情) and made in October 1872 by the artist Utagawa Kunisada II (二代目歌川国貞) for the series “Calligraphy and Pictures for the Fifty-three Stations” (書画五拾三駅), produced by the publisher Sawamuraya Seikichi (沢村屋清吉).
In the main frame of the work we see a famous couple of lovers: the courtesan Oiso no Tora (大磯の虎), who at the end of the unfortunate love story will become a nun, and her beloved Soga no Juro (曽我の十郎), that is the eldest of the two young Soga brothers (曾我兄弟) who, after having waited eighteen years, avenged, sacrificing their lives, their father’s death by killing Kudo Suketsune (工藤祐経), a retainer of the shogun Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝).
The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging, is in very good general condition.