Yoshitoshi - Takekura Sukekichi and overturned palanquin

Yoshitoshi

#11 in the series: 'Eimei nijūhasshūku (英名 二十八 衆句 - 28 Famous Murders with Verse)', of which Yoshitoshi produced half, with Yoshiiku (1833-1904) being responsible for the others. The series contains illustrations of events which often have a historical background, and were usually well-known from kabuki and noh plays.

A scene from the famous Kabuki classic "Sukeroku Yukarino Edo Sakura". The haiku reads" The sword is the honorable Ise Muramasa, the fighter is Sukeshichi, an expert with the sword. It is natural that he should slay the four with ease".

It dates from quite early in Yoshitoshi's career, when he was about twenty-seven, two decades before his well-known masterpieces such as his great series "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon" (1885-1892), and "New Forms of Thirty-Six Ghosts" (1889-1892).

The series contains text by what is claimed to be ten different writers.

Date: 1867

Publisher: Sano-ya Tomigorō (Kinseidō)

Condition: Backed on edo-era paper. Stains and paper damage as shown.

http://www.yoshitoshi.net/series/murders.html