JAPANESE ART > UKIYO-E WOODBLOCK PRINTS > ITOHAGI AND MUSASHI'S SWORDS

Lot 00864
N.1 ukiyo-e woodblock print

Utagawa Kunisada

ITOHAGI AND MUSASHI'S SWORDS

Year: 1853
Condition: good
Size: 18,5 x 24,5 cm

SOLD

Refined woodblock print made by the artist Utagawa Kunisada (歌川国貞) and depicting the young Itohagi (糸萩), daughter of the swordmaster Shirakura Dengoemon (白倉伝五右衛門). The woman is portrayed with the two swords of the famous swordsman and writer Miyamoto Musashi (宮本武藏), which we can see in the upper left inset while wearing a robe, a reenactment of the circumstance in which Shirakura planned to assassinate him during a bath: an attempt that Musashi managed to escape thanks to Itohagi who had fallen in love with him.

The work, entitled "Shirakura's daughter Itohagi" (しらくらのむすめいとはぎ), is taken from the series "The Glories of the Provinces of Japan" (国尽倭名誉) and is dedicated to the Bizen Province (備前国), which was the scene of the aforementioned episode. The inset depicting Musashi was made by an artist who signed himself "[Kunisada's] pupil Isokichi" (門人磯吉).

The print on Japanese washi paper (和紙), produced in August 1853 by the publisher Minatoya Kohei (湊屋小兵衛) and by the carver Ota Takichi (太田多吉), despite the right signs of aging and the presence of binding holes, is in overall good condition.

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