Young Samurai on Horseback

An Art Institute of Chicago chuban print dated to about 1769 to 1770, this design depicts a young samurai mounted on horseback, dressed in the formal travel costume of a young warrior of the period. Koryusai, who had himself been born into the samurai class and lived as a Tsuchiya retainer before becoming a ronin in the mid-1760s, brought an unusually informed eye to warrior subjects, and his musha-e (warrior prints) of this period are characterized by accurate attention to armor, livery, and equestrian detail. The chuban format gives the design a portrait-like intimacy, and the young samurai's youthful, slightly androgynous face places the print in dialogue with bijin-ga conventions of male beauty. The work likely belongs to the same body of warrior parodies that produced Koryusai's Furyu yatsushi musha kagami (Mirrors of Warriors in Fashionable Parodies) series.