「教導立志基」

This print belongs to Kiyochika's 教導立志基 (Kyōdō Risshi Ki, 'Foundation for Guidance and Aspiration') series, a multi-volume educational set published in the Meiji period depicting historical Japanese exemplars — scholars, statesmen, military figures, poets, and moral models — as subjects for inspirational instruction. The series reflects the Meiji government's project of constructing a usable national past and disseminating it through mass-printed illustrated media. Individual prints in the series typically show the subject in period-appropriate dress, often engaged in an act associated with their defining virtue or achievement, rendered with Kiyochika's characteristic precision of line and his restrained use of color. The washi ground and woodblock color registration across the figure and setting follow standard nishiki-e technique adapted for the smaller format common to educational series publication.