「教導立志基」 「卅一」「徳川竹千代」

Number thirty-one in the Kyōdō Risshi no Motoi series, this print depicts Tokugawa Takechiyo (徳川竹千代), the childhood name of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616), founder of the Edo shogunate. The young Takechiyo spent years as a political hostage first with the Oda and then the Imagawa clans, and his patience and resilience during this period were later cited as proof of his exceptional character. Kiyochika likely renders the boy in a contemplative or quietly determined posture, using controlled tonal gradation to suggest interior resolve rather than overt action. The childhood framing was a deliberate editorial choice for the series — presenting greatness as latent rather than fully realized, encouraging young Meiji readers to see their own futures as open.