Title: Chushingura Senzaki Yagoro. Ed.1/50.
Artist: Clifton Karhu (1927-2007).
Signed & Dated: Titled, editioned, & signed in pencil to plate. 1966.
Medium: Woodblock Print.
Paper Size: Approx: W: 28.25cm x H: 39.50cm.
Condition: Fabulous - no marks or blemishes; strong intensity of colour remains. Please refer to photos. Contact for any further questions/photos/& condition report.
Notes: “Chushingura” (忠臣蔵) (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) - most commonly acknowledged in the West as the “Ako Incident” or “Tale of the Forty-Seven Ronin” - tells the legendary story of loyalty & honor as forty-seven rōnin set about avenging the death of their master - the daimyō of Ako, Asano Naganori. A tale retold throughout Japanese history & kabuki theatre for centuries since (& most recently in modern film - Keanu Reeves’ (2013) “47 Ronin”); people can pay their respects today at their burial site, Sengakuji (泉岳寺) temple, Tokyo.
Clifton Karhu presents us with a fabulous early portraiture piece of Senzaki Yagorô Noriyasu - a warrior poet & one of the loyal retainers. Most notably depicted in Ukiyo-e by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) & his series: Biographies of Loyal and Righteous Samurai (誠忠義士傳 ) (Senzaki Yagoro Noriyasu 千崎矢五郎則休 (https://www.britishmuseum.org)); here Karhu prints a more formal modern image of Senzaki Yagorô in kimono, holding a Kiseru (煙管) tobacco pipe - a popular pastime from the early 17th Century, & often embellished to a measure of social class & wealth.
Article: Kiseru Pipe - Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts, FUREAIKAN (https://artsandculture.google.com).
Title: Chushingura Senzaki Yagoro. Ed.1/50.
Artist: Clifton Karhu (1927-2007).
Signed & Dated: Titled, editioned, & signed in pencil to plate. 1966.
Medium: Woodblock Print.
Paper Size: Approx: W: 28.25cm x H: 39.50cm.
Condition: Fabulous - no marks or blemishes; strong intensity of colour remains. Please refer to photos. Contact for any further questions/photos/& condition report.
Notes: “Chushingura” (忠臣蔵) (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) - most commonly acknowledged in the West as the “Ako Incident” or “Tale of the Forty-Seven Ronin” - tells the legendary story of loyalty & honor as forty-seven rōnin set about avenging the death of their master - the daimyō of Ako, Asano Naganori. A tale retold throughout Japanese history & kabuki theatre for centuries since (& most recently in modern film - Keanu Reeves’ (2013) “47 Ronin”); people can pay their respects today at their burial site, Sengakuji (泉岳寺) temple, Tokyo.
Clifton Karhu presents us with a fabulous early portraiture piece of Senzaki Yagorô Noriyasu - a warrior poet & one of the loyal retainers. Most notably depicted in Ukiyo-e by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) & his series: Biographies of Loyal and Righteous Samurai (誠忠義士傳 ) (Senzaki Yagoro Noriyasu 千崎矢五郎則休 (https://www.britishmuseum.org)); here Karhu prints a more formal modern image of Senzaki Yagorô in kimono, holding a Kiseru (煙管) tobacco pipe - a popular pastime from the early 17th Century, & often embellished to a measure of social class & wealth.
Article: Kiseru Pipe - Kyoto Museum of Traditional Crafts, FUREAIKAN (https://artsandculture.google.com).
Improvised Samurai Weapons: the Kiseru (Pipe) - Simple History - 21/04/2020.
