The Storehouse of Loyal Retainers, Act Four
Original title: 忠臣蔵四段目
kurzbeschreibung
Two women and an older man stand close together inside a circular field bordered by flowering vines. Kitagawa Utamaro made this woodblock print in ink and color on paper around 1798; it is titled The Fourth Act of Chūshingura.
Description
An older man with a red sash and a thoughtful expression anchors the group, flanked by two women in traditional Japanese dress and hairstyles. The round frame enclosing them is edged with floral scrolls, and more blossoms appear behind the figures. Japanese and Chinese characters, likely the title and the names of the characters, are scattered across the sheet. Earth tones dominate, broken by red and gold accents; the light is even, with no shading.
Context
This print belongs to a series of ukiyo-e sheets illustrating the popular Kabuki play Chūshingura, the story of the forty-seven rōnin. Utamaro produced it in the late Edo period, when woodblock prints had become a mass medium for theater and everyday subjects. By isolating a single act of the drama, the sheet reflects the enthusiasm of the time for the play and its moral questions.
Impact
The compact layout and warm coloring create a quiet, reflective mood. The circular frame draws the eye to the three figures and lends the scene a meditative quality.
Technique
To make the print, the design was cut into wooden blocks and transferred to paper with water-based colors. Clean lines and flat areas of color are characteristic of the ukiyo-e process, in which several blocks are used for the different colors.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)