The Sorrow of Kesa Gozen

The Sorrow of Kesa Gozen, printed in 1972 as a stencil in an edition of two, presents the tragic figure from the Heike Monogatari who sacrificed herself to save her husband — allowing her lover to kill her in mistake for her husband, whose place she took in the darkened room. Kesa Gozen was one of the most celebrated examples of female self-sacrifice in classical Japanese literature, and Mori's rendering of her grief and resolve would have honored both the emotional complexity of the character and the moral seriousness of her decision. The tiny edition of two prints makes this among the rarest of his documented works.