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The 47 Ronin: Samurai Art by Kunisada (Ukiyo-e Master Specials) - Softcover

 
9781840683158: The 47 Ronin: Samurai Art by Kunisada (Ukiyo-e Master Specials)
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The story of the 47 ronin ― a band of samurai who became masterless after the enforced seppuku (ritual suicide) of their daimyo, Asano Takumi-no-Kami Naganori ― is a legend which stems from a true historical episode of deadly revenge during the period 1701-1703. This tale remains one of the most enduring myths in Japanese culture as an exemplar of bushido, the samurai code of honour, which demands loyalty and glorifies vengeance and death.

The story of the 47 ronin became widely popularized in Japan through the stage play Kanadehon Chá»shingura ("Treasury Of Loyal Retainers"), written by Chikamatsu Monzaemo and Takeda Izumo in 1748. As the popularity of woodblock prints (ukiyo-e) increased in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Chá»shingura became a favoured subject for many of the art-form's leading practitioners, including Utamaro, Toyokuni I, Hokusai, Hiroshige, Kuniyasu, and a young up-and-coming artist named Gototei (later Utagawa) Kunisada.

Kunisada returned to the subject of the 47 ronin in 1864, at the age of seventy-nine, with a new series of 48 prints (including an additional "ghost samurai"). Despite this advanced age, the images he produced rank amongst the finest of his career, and this 47 Ronin stands near the pinnacle of his achievements. Kunisada's 47 Ronin remains one of the greatest (but rarely celebrated) ukiyo-e series of the late Edo period.

This Ukiyo-e Master Special edition of Kunisada's 47 Ronin contains not only Kunisada's complete set of 48 samurai prints, reproduced in full-size and full-colour, but also reference prints from Kuniyoshi's classic series of 1847, complementing each image. The book also features A.B. Mitford's definitive Legend Of The 47 Ronin, the first English-language version of the story from 1871. This text is illustrated with 47 Ronin prints by various other classic ukiyo-e artists, including Yoshitora, Yoshitoshi, and Kunichika, bringing the total number of colour prints in the book to over 100.

Ukiyo-e Master Specials is a new occasional series highlighting individual print sets by classic ukiyo-e artists.

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About the Author:
Utagawa Kunisada (1786 1865), also known as Utagawa Toyokuni III, was the most popular, prolific and financially successful designer of ukiyo-e woodblock prints in 19th-century Japan.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
NIGHT AND BLOOD AND DEATH

At the beginning of the eighteenth century there lived a daimyo, called Asano Takumi no Kami, the Lord of the castle of Aká´, in the province of Harima. Now it happened that an Imperial ambassador from the Court of the Mikado having been sent to the Shogun at Yedo, Takumi no Kami and another noble called Kamei Sama were appointed to receive and feast the envoy; and a high official, named Kira Ká´tsuké no Suké, was named to teach them the proper ceremonies to be observed upon the occasion. The two nobles were accordingly forced to go daily to the castle to listen to the instructions of Ká´tsuké no Suké. But this Ká´tsuké no Suké was a man greedy of money; and as he deemed that the presents which the two daimyo, according to time-honoured custom, had brought him in return for his instruction, were mean and unworthy, he conceived a great hatred against them, and took no pains in teaching them, but on the contrary rather sought to make laughing-stocks of them. Takumi no Kami, restrained by a stern sense of duty, bore his insults with patience; but Kamei Sama, who had less control over his temper, was violently incensed, and determined to kill Ká´tsuké no Suké.

One night when his duties at the castle were ended, Kamei Sama returned to his own palace, and having summoned his councillors to a secret conference, said to them: "Ká´tsuké no Suké has insulted Takumi no Kami and myself during our service in attendance on the Imperial envoy. This is against all decency, and I was minded to kill him on the spot; but I bethought me that if I did such a deed within the precincts of the castle, not only would my own life be forfeit, but my family and vassals would be ruined: so I stayed my hand. Still the life of such a wretch is a sorrow to the people, and tomorrow when I go to Court I will slay him: my mind is made up, and I will listen to no remonstrance." And as he spoke his face became livid with rage.

Now one of Kamei Sama's councillors was a man of great judgement, and when he saw from his lord's manner that remonstrance would be useless, he said: "Your lordship's words are law; your servant will make all preparations accordingly; and tomorrow, when your lordship goes to Court, if this Ká´tsuké no Suké should again be insolent, let him die the death." And his lord was pleased at this speech, and waited with impatience for the day to break, that he might return to Court and kill his enemy. ...

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  • PublisherShinbaku Books
  • Publication date2013
  • ISBN 10 1840683155
  • ISBN 13 9781840683158
  • BindingPaperback
  • Number of pages128

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