Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797-1861)
Publisher: Ebiya Rinnosuke (Kaijudō)
Title: No. 13 Yazama Jujiro Moto-oki Blowing a Whistle
Series: Biographies of Loyal and Righteous Samurai (Seichū gishi den)
Date: 1847
Medium: Full-color woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Size: Approximately 9 ¾ x 13 ½ (ōban tate-e)
Musco Collection

The print is part of the series in which Kuniyoshi depicts the heroes from the celebrated story of forty-seven rōnin. The Seichū gishi den series is often praised as a pinnacle of warrior print genre. It follows the format of historical biographies that was developed by Kuniyoshi several years earlier.

The tale of forty-seven rōnin is based on the real events known as Akō incident of 1701-1704, but to avoid censorship the names of the characters and the period in which the events took place were changed. In this series, Kuniyoshi uses the fictional names that were popularized by Kabuki theater and jōruri puppet plays.

The print depicts Yazama Jujiro Moto-oki blowing a whistle to signal to the other rōnin that he discovered the villain Moronao who caused the death of their master. The upper part of the print is occupied by the biographical text. In this print, motion, emotion, color and calligraphy come together to tell the tale of loyalty and sacrifice.

Other impressions of this print may be found at the British Museum (1, 2, 3), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), and Edo Tokyo Museum.

Selected Readings
• Robinson, B.W. Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1982.
• Weinberg, D.R. Kuniyoshi, The Faithful Samurai. Leiden: Hotei Publishing, 2000.

Posted by Maria Puzyreva
October 30, 2020