Okuda Sadaemon Yukitaka 奥田貞右衛門行高 / Gishi shijushichi zu 義士四十七図

Okuda Sadaemon Yukitaka of the Gishi Shijushichi-zu rounds out the portrait series with another member of the legendary group. By the time Gekko had painted all forty-seven, the series represented a sustained meditation on loyalty, duty, and the human face of historical legend—the individual faces he had invented for each warrior becoming, through repetition and careful variation, a convincing visual document of a group who had left no authentic portrait records.