Torii Suneemon Katsutaka leaving his master's castle

Torii Suneemon Katsutaka was a retainer of Okudaira Sadamasa during the 1575 siege of Nagashino castle. He volunteered to slip past the besieging Takeda lines to summon Tokugawa and Oda reinforcements; on his return he was captured and ordered to call out a false message to the defenders, but instead shouted that relief was approaching, and was crucified for the deception. The print depicts him at the moment of departure, leaving the castle gate or passing beneath a torii at his lord's shrine, the architectural elements grounding the narrative in Mikawa terrain. Yoshitoshi treats the loyal-retainer subject in the [musha-e](/glossary/musha-e) tradition inherited from Kuniyoshi, but the contemplative stance — figure paused at a threshold — represents the more psychologically attentive register of his late warrior prints. [Bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) shading in the gate timbers and sky differentiates planes, while dense [nishiki-e](/glossary/nishiki-e) color in the armor and robes registers his samurai status. The Suneemon legend was a staple of Edo loyalty literature and theater.