c. 1835-1837
Chūshingura, Act VIII (Chūshingura hachidanme)
Utagawa Hiroshige IJapanese, 1797 - 1858
Nineteenth-century Japanese viewers would have recognized this cast of characters, which appear in the well-known folk story Chushingura (The Tale of the Forty-Seven Loyal Ronin). The story, based on an event in Japanese history dating to the early 1700s, describes the heroic deeds of a band of masterless samurai (ronin). It became a popular subject for prints, puppet shows, and kabuki plays.
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