Parody of act VII of the play "Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Chushingura)"
c. 1782
Medium
Color woodblock print; hashira-e
Dimensions
69.6 × 12.7 cm (27 7/16 × 5 in.)
Classification
woodblock print
Department
Arts of Asia
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
23196
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
This print is another parody of the scene in Act VII where a young man reads a long letter on the veranda of a pleasure house. Above him, on a balcony, a courtesan of the house reads the coded letter by looking into a small mirror. Below, the matron of the house crawls out from under the veranda and calls out to the young man. This “tall” episode from the play easily lent itself to the form of the pillar print, earning its name because it could be mounted on the narrow pillars in Edo homes.
About the Artist
Torii Kiyonaga · 1752–1815
Torii Kiyonaga, born Sekiguchi Shinsuke in 1752 in Uraga, Sagami Province, was the son of an Edo bookseller who owned tenements near a bustling fish market. At age 14 in 1765, he began his apprenticeship under Torii Kiyomitsu, the third-generation head of the prestigious Torii school of ukiyo-e, renowned for kabuki theater illustrations and signage. Adopted into the Torii family, Kiyonaga succeede...