A Chushingura Parody

Utagawa Toyokuni I (Japanese, 1769–1825)

c. 1787

Medium
Color woodblock print; hashira-e (pillar print)
Classification
Print
Culture
Japan
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
Credit line
Clarence Buckingham Collection
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed

View at the Art Institute of Chicago

About this work

In this version of the parody based on Act VII, a young man stands on the veranda reading a long love letter. A young woman, seated on the ground outside a fence, also reads the letter and is apparently greatly amused by its contents. Another young woman seated on a balcony looks down on the scene. It is thought that the artist designed this print at the age of eighteen.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0