THE OUTLAW KIRISHIMA MATSUGORO (Tsukioka Yoshitoshi)

N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print
Year: 1865
Condition: good
Size: 24 x 35,5 cm

SOLD

Description

Original large format woodblock print made by the famous artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) and depicting the outlaw Kirishima Matsugoro (桐島松五郎) holding in his hands a makeshift weapon formed from a kama (鎌) sickle and a bamboo pole. The work is taken from the “Kinsei Kyogiden” (近世俠義伝), a fascinating series of prints whose title is usually translated “Biographies of Modern Men” and which presents the protagonists of the power struggle that took place in 1849 between two gambling rings in the ancient Shimosa Province (下総国).

In the upper part of the work, produced in December 1865 by the publisher Iseya Kisaburo (伊勢屋喜三郎) and by the engraver Ota Tashichi (太田多七), the writer and journalist Sansantei Arindo (山々亭有人), pseudonym of Jono Saigiku (条野採菊), traces a brief biography of the protagonist.

The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the presence of the right signs of aging and some restorations, is in overall good conditions.