Kuniyoshi - Shimonosuwa Yaegaki-hime

Utagawa Kuniyoshi

One of the most famous prints (#30) from the series: Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaido. An elegantly dressed woman dances with ghostly fox spirits while holding a samurai helmet above her head. She is Yaegaki-hime, heroine of the popular kabuki play Japan's Twenty-four Paragons of Filial Piety (Honchō nijūshi-kō). The God of Suwa, who wants the helmet returned to its rightful owners, sends fox spirits as his messengers to guide Yaegaki. By following the footsteps of foxes over the ice, she will be able to make a safe crossing over frozen Lake Suwa and deliver the helmet to Katsuyori. 

Date: 1852

Size: 14.25 x 9.75 (inches)

Publisher: Yawataya Sakujiro

Condition: Good color and impression, a bit faded, some embossing, not backed.

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Tokyo Metropolitan Library

Waseda University

British Museum

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Cultural Heritage online - with a Google map showing where this location is

Hiroshige Museum of Art

Musée Cernuschi

Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College