Sugino Juheiji Tsugifusa 杉野十平次次房 / Gishi shijushichi zu 義士四十七図

Sugino Juheiji Tsugifusa (1647–1703), another of the forty-seven Ako retainers, is portrayed in this entry from Gekko's Gishi shijushichi zu series. Tsugifusa was among the older retainers and a skilled swordsman; his portrait would convey the gravitas and resolve characteristic of the most senior figures in the group. Gekko rendered each of the forty-seven with individual distinctiveness — differentiating them through physiognomy, expression, equipment, and the particular details of their winter raid dress — making the series function both as a collective monument to loyalty and as a gallery of individual characterization. The Chushingura narrative had sustained popular appeal across all periods of Japanese print culture, and Gekko's version updated it for Meiji audiences who combined national pride in warrior traditions with Western-influenced taste for realistic portraiture in a compact vertical format.