Ogata Gekkō · Gishi Shijūshichi Zu · 47 Rōnin ·...

Artist: Ogata Gekkō 尾形月耕 (1859–1920) Series: Gishi shijūshichi zu 義士四十七圖 (Pictures of the Forty-seven Loyal Retainers) Title: Fuwa Kazuemon Masatane 不破数右衛門正種 Format: Ōban tate-e, approx. 36 × 24 cm Technique: Woodblock print (nishiki-e), ink and colour on paper Date: Meiji period, 1896–1902 (to be confirmed from the margin colophon) Publisher: Matsuki Heikichi 松木平吉 (margin colophon) Signature: 月耕 (Gekkō), with the artist's seal CONDITION Very good colors and strong impression. The paper has minor Soiling/toning and an album backing. Please check the images! About the print Fuwa Kazuemon's story is unlike that of any other of the forty-seven. In 1697, years before the vendetta, Lord Asano dismissed him from service, and he lived as a rōnin outside the clan. The reasons are not recorded with certainty. One tradition says he dug up a freshly buried corpse to test a new sword. Another says he cut down passers-by at night. When news came in 1701 that Asano had been forced to commit seppuku and the domain had been confiscated, Fuwa hurried to Akō to offer his service. Ōishi Kuranosuke turned him away at first because of his earlier dismissal. Fuwa kept asking and was eventually admitted to the league. He repaid that trust in full. In the night attack on Kira's mansion he is said to have cut down more of Kira's men than any other rōnin. A letter he wrote while in custody after the raid survives and is one of the frank first-hand accounts of how Kira was killed. Fuwa died by seppuku in 1703 and is buried at Sengakuji with his lord and his comrades. The cartouche on this sheet still lists him as a rōnin, a reminder that he joined the league from outside the clan. In 1702, forty-seven former retainers of Lord Asano of Akō took revenge on Kira Yoshinaka, whose insult had led to their master's forced suicide. They then surrendered and were sentenced to ritual suicide. The story, known as Chūshingura, became Japan's national legend of loyalty. Gekkō's Gishi shijūshichi zu gives one sheet to each of the forty-seven men, with a label stating his rank, stipend and age at death. The set was completed and reissued in 1902 for the 200th anniversary of the vendetta. This sheet carries a January 1902 colophon, the same date recorded for the British Museum's impression.

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