Description

The eighth print appearing in Volume 2 of Gishi taikan, edited by Fukumoto Nichinan. 

Sixty year old Onodera Junai Hidetomo 小野寺十内秀和 (1643-1703), a retainer of Asano Naganori well-versed in the martial arts and a literary man known for his poetry, is shown walking along the Tokaidō to Edo in October 1702 where he will join Ōishi Yoshio for the attack on Kira's mansion. Previously he had left his home near Mount Hiei to rush to Akō Castle when it was still thought that it might remain in the hands of the Asano family and later he will join Ōishi in Kyoto as his chief of staff. In his commentary on the print, Fukumoto relates, "As he was travelling eastwards, the skies of the capital were now distant and he felt the loneliness of the journey. The mountains of O'Hiei, his hometown, are distant and shrouded in clouds." In a letter to his wife Onodera has written "Even if my dead body is shown, I think my duty will be fulfilled because my dead body will demonstrate Samurai loyalty to the entire country and it will strengthen their resolve."  After her husband's ordered seppuku she will commit jigai, ritual suicide, as is prescribed for the wives of samurai.

Print Details

Artist Profile

Mizuta Chikuho 水田竹圃 (1883-1958)

Mizuta Chikuho (born Mizuta Chūji) was born in Osaka in 1883. He started his training as a painter in 1897 under Himejima Chikugai 姫島竹外 (1846-1928). He was an important figure in Kansai painting circles and co-founded the Nihon Nangain (Japan Nanga Institute). He was a frequent exhibitor and prize-winner at the government sponsored Bunten, and later he became a judge for the Teiten, the successor exhibition to the Bunten. He died in 1958.

source:  A Dictionary of Japanese Artists: Painting, Sculpture, Ceramics, Prints, Lacquer, Laurance P. Roberts, Weatherhill, 1976,  p.110.