-
A0 Prologue
There are an extraordinary number of ukiyo-e which take Chūshingura as their subject, numbering in the thousands and forming an important strand among numerous works of theater.
Most striking are the many actor prints made in conjunction with stagings of the play following the premier of Kana dehon chūshingura in 1748. However, beginning in the Ansei Period (1772-81) a number of series of narrative prints depicting the story of the play were also produced. It is believed that the reason for this is that from the Meiwa Period (1764-72) onward Kana dehon chūshingura was performed in the city of Edo almost every year and the story of the play was broadly diffused among the populace.
These narrative prints of Chūshingura were produced in series of eleven sheets with one sheet for each act of the play. An important scene for each act would be drawn using the techniques of ukiyo-e and the method of iji dōzu which depicts movement over time. For Act 11, there are many depictions of the night raid and the capture of Moronao.
Beginning in the nineteenth century, many kabuki productions included a scene in the eleventh act depicting the retreat of the loyal retainers across Ryōgoku Bridge and many series of narrative prints began to include an additional print depicting this scene or the scene of the retainers burning incense for their master. It is believed the reason for this change is that in terms of cutting paper for the prints, twelve was a more functional number than eleven and if a an additional print were to be added it would come from the Act 11 which depicted the revenge which was, after all, the origin of the Chūshingura narrative. There are also examples of unusual series such as the one designed by Utagawa Hiroshige and published by Izumiya Ichibei in the mid-Tenpō Period (1830-44) which is comprised of sixteen prints, six depicting the final eleventh act.
Moreover, prints which depicted only Act 11 removed from the larger narrative came to be produced. An extraordinary number and wide variety of these prints proliferated until the Meiji Period depicting not only the battle scenes of the night attack and the capture of Moronao but also the retainers preparing for the attack, heading for the attack in formation, retreating across Ryōgoku Bridge, and presenting Moronao’s severed head before the grave of their lord, often using the wide format provided by three sheet prints.
It can be argued that the process through which images of the attack of Act 11 expanded and became independent of the framework of narrative prints was one of the factors that allowed for such varied worlds of Chūshingura to take shape in ukiyo-e.
【List of reference】
赤穂市教育委員会市史編さん室編『忠臣蔵』第2巻(赤穂市、2011年)
赤穂市教育委員会市史編さん室編『忠臣蔵』第7巻(赤穂市、2014年)
赤穂市立歴史博物館編『赤穂市立歴史博物館収蔵 忠臣蔵の浮世絵』(赤穂市立歴史博物館、2004年)
赤穂市立歴史博物館編『描かれた赤穂義士』(赤穂市立歴史博物館、2012年)
赤穂義士会編『赤穂義士会所蔵 忠臣蔵の浮世絵』(赤穂義士会、2015年)
-
A1 Preparing for the Attack
-
A2 Gathering Before the Gate of Moronao’s Residence
-
A3 Breaking Down the Gate and Entering
-
A4 Battle within the Residence
-
A5 The Killing of Moronao
-
A6 Retreat and Lighting the Incense before their Lord’s Grave