Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki 寺坂吉右衛門信行 / Gishi shijushichi zu 義士四十七図

Terasaka Kichiemon Nobuyuki (1665–1747) occupies a singular place among the forty-seven Ako retainers: he alone survived the group's collective seppuku, reportedly sent by Oishi Yoshio as a messenger and living the longest life of any member, dying at age eighty-three. This ambiguity — was he the group's messenger or a deserter? — lent his portrait in Gekko's Gishi shijushichi zu special interpretive weight. Gekko's rendering would likely balance the conventional warrior portrait format of the series with some acknowledgment of Terasaka's distinctive story, whether through expression, posture, or compositional isolation. The close figural focus characteristic of the series places the viewer in direct relation with each retainer, and the accumulation of forty-seven individual portraits functions as a monument to collective loyalty presented face by face, oban format by oban format.