Description
Feeling lonely / I step out of my abode / and gaze: / everywhere is the same, / the autumn dusk (さびしさに 宿を立出て ながむれば いづこもおなじ 秋の夕ぐれ). In the upper part of this precious original woodblock print by the artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) we read the famous verses composed in the eleventh century by the poet Ryozen Hoshi (良暹法師). In the lower part of the work, the warrior Ishidome Busuke (石留武助) and his sister Ohana (妹於花), two of the protagonists of Igagoe revenge (伊賀越えの仇討ち).
The print, made around 1845 by the publisher Ibaya Senzaburo (伊場屋仙三郎) owner of Dansendo (団仙堂), is taken from “Imitations of the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu” (小倉擬百人一首), a series inspired by the collection of waka (和歌) poetic compositions “One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets” compiled by Fujiwara no Teika (藤原定家).
The woodcut on Japanese washi paper (和紙), despite the right signs of aging, is in very good general condition.
