Denzaemon Chiba with severed head

Denzaemon Chiba was a celebrated swordsmanship teacher and dojo master of the Edo period who appears in popular fiction as a colorful figure of martial culture. This print depicts him holding a severed head—a motif drawn from the repertoire of Yoshitoshi's muzan-e, or bloody prints, that scandalized and fascinated audiences during the 1860s. The dojo context frames the violence within the martial tradition, presenting the severed head as a trophy of battle rather than mere gore.