Yokokawa Kanbei Munetoshi 横川勘平宗利 / Gishi shijushichi zu 義士四十七図

Yokokawa Kanbei Munetoshi of the Gishi Shijushichi-zu continues the systematic warrior portrait series. By the time Gekko had produced portraits of all forty-seven, each successive print had refined his approach to a very specific challenge: how to suggest a distinct human identity through a face and posture chosen entirely by the artist, with no historical visual reference, within a consistent compositional format. The cumulative result was a monument to creative portraiture operating entirely within the imagination.