Digital Exhibit I: “Varieties of the Revenge Scene” introduced how prints that thematized Chūshingura originated with the depiction of the revenge scene and how in the nineteenth century there emerged many examples in which the revenge scene was extracted from the larger narrative and depicted stand alone.
　Amid this development, the series designed by Utagawa Kunisada I at the beginning of the Bunsei Era, Kana dehon chūshingura jūichidanme youchi ninzū no uchi, which depicted one or two of the loyal retainers dressed for battle against a yellow background, was the first of many warrior-print series that depicted each of the retainers. It was the extraordinarily successful series Seichū gishiden by Utagawa Kuniyoshi from nearly twenty years later in 1847 that would formalize the depiction of the retainers. After Kuniyoshi’s series, it became standard to vividly depict each retainer individually in martial pose and include an abbreviated version of his story in the space above and many ukiyo-e print designers who specialized in warrior prints would use this format or similar ones to which they had added their own touches.
　During the Edo period, it was forbidden by the Bakufu to depict the retainers in prints under their real names. In the Meiji Period, prints began depicting them using their real names such as Ōishi Kuranosuke. The last series to depict the retainers individually was Ogata Gekkō’s Gishi shijūshichi zu published between 1902 and 1903.
　Also introduced are a number of depictions of Yuranosuke and Kuranosuke not in battle dress.
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