Yoshiyuki: Loyal ronin with musket
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Utagawa (Nansuitei) Yoshiyuki (1835-1879)

The loyal ronin Hayano Kanpei (Nakamura Komanosuke V), hunting for wild boars, seeks for shelter from a nocturnal rain storm under a pine tree. Leaning on his musket, he holds a burning fuse in his raised right hand. On the left in a large insert a portrait of the bleeding and dying robber and murderer Ono Sadakurô (played by Ôtani Tomomatsu I), killed by an accidental shot from Kanpei’s musket.
A dramatic scene from the fifth act of the famous Kabuki play "Kanadehon Chûshingura" (The Story of the 47 Loyal Samurai), performed at the Chikugo theatre in 1863.

Signature: Yoshiyuki

Publisher: _ 霊軒板 (?), Osaka

Date: 1863

Size: Chûban diptych, 24,2 x 36.2 cm

A very fine deluxe impression with excellent colours, printed with metal pigments and shomenzuri (burnishing). Retains old album backing. Excellent condition. Rare.
Cf. MFA Boston, Bigelow Coll., No. 11.39506 (only the left sheet in a standard impression without metal pigments)

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