「元禄日本錦」 「わ」「堀部安兵衛武庸」

This sheet from Genroku Nihon Nishiki features Horibe Yasubei Taketsune, one of the most celebrated of the forty-seven ronin, identified by the syllable 'wa.' Horibe was renowned as a skilled swordsman before joining the Ako retainers, and Kyosai likely rendered him with particular attention to martial presence. As a single-figure composition, the print allows more detail in costume, weaponry, and facial expression than the paired-figure sheets. The series as a whole reflects the sustained Meiji audience appetite for Genroku-era samurai subjects at a moment when the historical distance from that world was rapidly widening.