THE RONIN AT THEIR MASTER’S GRAVE (Utagawa Kunisada)

N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print
Year: 1854
Condition: good
Size: 37 x 24,5 cm

SOLD

Description

It is the snowy dawn of December 14, 1702 and the loyal retainers of En’ya Hangan (塩冶判官), after a long march led by Oboshi Yuranosuke (大星由良之助), enter the precincts of the Sengakuji (泉岳寺) temple and arrive at their master’s grave carrying in procession the head of the evil Ko no Moronao (高師直). Some of them, in the upper part of the work, sweep the snow around the burial place where the samurai will burn incense as the monks read prayers.

The precious print presented here is dedicated to the epilogue (大尾) of the play inspired by the heroic deeds of the forty-seven ronin (四十七士) entitled Chushingura (忠臣蔵), “The Treasury of Loyal Retainers”, and is taken from a homonymous series of prints made by the famous artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞).

The work, produced in June 1854 by the publisher Tsutaya Kichizo (蔦屋吉蔵), owner of Koeido (紅英堂), and by the carver Tsuge Shojiro (津下庄治郎), despite the signs of aging including some paper wrinkles, is in overall good condition.