Original woodblock print (18) – Paper – Samurai – Utagawa Yoshitora (act. ca. 1836-1887) – From the series “Chûshin gishi meimei den” 忠臣義士銘々伝 (The Story of the Faithful Samurai in The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers) – Japan – 1864 (Bunkyû 4/Genji 1)

Description

Original woodblock print (18) – Paper – Samurai – Utagawa Yoshitora (act. ca. 1836-1887) – From the series “Chûshin gishi meimei den” 忠臣義士銘々伝 (The Story of the Faithful Samurai in The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers) – Japan – 1864 (Bunkyû 4/Genji 1)

Utagawa Yoshitora is name ‘(Yoshitora ga)芳虎画 in his signature.
This ukiyo-e is a work depicting the characters of Chūshingura(忠臣蔵) that occurred in 1703.
There are 49 types of ukiyo-e in all.

Please have a look at the photos for a better impression.
This Ukiyo-e has holes and folds.
Also, since it is old, it has dirt.
See photos.

Nine people are drawn
Ōtaka Gengo Minamoto Tadao(大鷹源五源忠雄), Okuda Tadaiemon Fujiwara Yukitaka(小久田只右エ門藤原行高), hikamasu Kanroku minamoto　Yukishige(近増勘六源行重), Yazama shinroku fujiwara mitsukaze(矢間新六藤原光風),Yoshida kawa uemon Fujiwara kanesada (芳田河右衛門藤原兼貞), Ono dera Hiroshi uemon fujiwara shigeru Tome (斧寺弘右衛門藤原秀留), Waka kaki genzō Fujiwara Shōken(若柿玄蔵藤原正賢),Tomishige Satoemon minamoto no shouin(富茂里捨右衛門源正因),Kuze Sanshiro Hirotomi(久世三四郎広富), Nakamura Kansuke Fujiwara Masatatsu (那加邑寛助藤原正辰),Mura-zō Kihei Fujiwara Hidenao nyū Michitaka en(村増喜平藤原秀直入道隆円),Gyū Oda Masa nojō-minamoto takanori(牛尾田政之丞源隆教),Tanida Goroemon Fujiwara Suketake(谷田五郎右衛門藤原助武),Mayo chūdayū Ki Masaaki(真世忠太夫紀正明),Hayano kazu suke Fujiwara Tsunenari(早野和輔藤原常成),Okuda Magodayū Fujiwara Shigemori(尾久田孫太夫藤原重盛),Yo Furukawa Kan hira Fujiwara Munetoshi(余古河完平藤原宗利),O Kano Kin uemon Fujiwara Kanehide(尾加野欣右衛門藤原包秀)

Utagawa Mousaihitsu is name ‘(Yoshitora ga)芳虎画

(memo)
He joined Utagawa school master Kuniyoshi’s studio and become one of the master’s students.
he took on Utagawa as a surname, and also used the surname Ichi Mousai(一猛斎),Mousai(孟斎),NishikichoEuro(錦朝楼),as an art name, and also used his birth surname as an art name in his career.
Yoshitora was prolific: he produced over 60 print series and illustrated over 100 books. In 1849 he produced an irreverent print called Dōke musha: Miyo no wakamochi (“Funny Warriors—Our Ruler’s New Year’s Rice Cakes”), which depicts Oda Nobunaga, Akechi Mitsuhide, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi making mochi rice cakes for the shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu. A poem by Sawaya Kōkichi accompanies it, reading “Kimi ga yo wo tsuki katametari haru no mochi” (“Tamping down the reign firm and solid like spring rice cakes”). Censors interpreted the print as a criticism of authority and had Yoshitora manacles for fifty days. Soon after Yoshitora was expelled from Kuniyoshi’s studio, possibly due to the print, but he continued to produce illustrations prolifically.

See Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: https://collections.mfa.org/search/objects/*/Ch%C3%BBshin%20gishi%20meimei%20den