Description
Outraged by the evil Ko no Moronao’s (高師直) behavior, Momoi Wakasanosuke (桃井若狭之助) discloses to the retainer Kakogawa Honzo (加古川本蔵) his decision to take revenge. Honzo expresses his support by cutting a pine branch but, in reality, he will then go to Moronao to peacefully settle the issue and avoid his lord the fate that instead En’ya Hangan (塩冶判官) will incur, that is the seppuku (切腹) that will lead to the revenge of the forty-seven ronin (四十七士).
The precious woodblock print presented here is dedicated, precisely, to the second act (貮段目) of the play Chushingura (忠臣蔵), “The Treasury of Loyal Retainers”, and is taken from a homonymous series of prints made by the famous artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞).
The work, produced in May 1854 by the publisher Tsutaya Kichizo (蔦屋吉蔵), owner of Koeido (紅英堂), and by the carver Yokokawa Takejiro (横川竹二郎), despite the signs of aging including some paper wrinkles, is in good general condition.
