Okuda Sademon Yukitaka
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Robyn Buntin of Honolulu
- Image courtesy of
- Robyn Buntin of Honolulu
Description
A musha-e portrait of Okuda Sademon Yukitaka from Kyosai's warrior print series on the forty-seven rōnin. The figure appears in the armor and equipment of the Genroku period raid, the historical specificity of costuming serving as a marker of period authenticity in Chūshingura imagery. Kyosai's approach to such subjects reflects both the dramatic conventions inherited from Kuniyoshi's school and the idiosyncratic energy of his own mature style — a combination that prevents the figure from settling into the formulaic heroism that characterized lesser musha-e. The print likely belongs to a numbered set of rōnin portraits, each in oban format, designed to be collected and displayed together. The Chūshingura subject remained viable commercially through the Meiji era, when it acquired additional resonance as a narrative of samurai virtue during a period of institutional transformation that had abolished the samurai class itself.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Old Picture of the Rashômon Gate (Rashômon no ko zu), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho tsuzuki
Woodblock print
Tsukishimadera Temple in Hyôgo (Hyôgo Tsukishimadera), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Frequently Asked Questions
Okuda Sademon Yukitaka was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).