Hojo Yasutoki

This print depicts Hojo Yasutoki (1183–1242), the third regent (shikken) of the Kamakura shogunate, placing Kiyochika within the tradition of rekishi-ga (historical pictures) alongside his war print and urban landscape output. Yasutoki is historically associated with the promulgation of the Goseibai Shikimoku (Formulary of Adjudications) in 1232, a foundational legal code for the warrior class, and is generally portrayed in historical memory as a capable and principled administrator. Kiyochika's depiction likely presents Yasutoki in formal warrior or court dress, possibly in an interior setting appropriate to his role as regent, or in a dramatic outdoor context drawn from episodes of the Azuma Kagami chronicle. The print's palette would draw on the muted, ink-heavy tones characteristic of Kiyochika's figurative work, distinct from the vivid polychrome nishiki-e tradition of earlier warrior portrait series. The subject may have been produced for a historical series or in response to Meiji-era interest in warrior-class governance and legal precedent.