Act III (Sandanme), from the series "Perspective Pictures of the Storehouse of Loyal Retainers (Uki-e kanadehon Chushingura)"

Act III (Sandanme) of Kanadehon Chushingura, in Kitao Masayoshi's perspective-picture series held by the Art Institute of Chicago and dated to circa 1791-1794, depicts the pivotal sword-drawing scene in the corridors of Edo Castle. Lord Enya Hangan, provoked by the duplicitous Kira (Moronao), draws his blade within the shogunal palace, an act that triggers the forced suicide and confiscation that drive the rest of the drama. Masayoshi's treatment of the corridor space uses one-point perspective to dramatize the receding architectural lines along which the action unfolds, with the kabuki figures positioned as actors arrested mid-gesture on a steeply foreshortened stage. The horizontal o-oban format gives him the lateral expanse needed to develop both the architectural setting and the dramatic confrontation. The print reflects how mature Masayoshi had become in the conventions of uki-e by the early 1790s, balancing the European-derived geometric perspective against the strongly contoured Japanese figure tradition he had absorbed under Kitao Shigemasa. As part of a complete narrative series, this sheet preserves a designer at the height of his powers within the commercial Edo print marketplace, just before his decisive pivot toward the sketch-album format.