CHŪSHINGURA BETWEEN INNOVATION and ARTISTIC EXPERIMENTATION Silvia Vesco1

CHŪSHINGURA BETWEEN INNOVATION AND ARTISTIC EXPERIMENTATION Silvia Vesco1

Becoming old, one waits for the day of flowering; How difficult it is to be witnesses of the year that ends Onodera Jūnai Hidetomo 小野寺重内秀知2

The most famous Japanese play of all time is the Kanadehon Chūshingura, 仮名手本忠臣蔵 (The Syllabic Manual, The Treasury of Loyal Retainers)3 or simply Chūshingura 忠臣蔵 and represents the historical episode of the "revenge of the forty-seven rōnin", known as Akō gishi jiken 赤穂義士事件 (The Case of the Just Warriors of Akō), which became famous also outside of Japan. It was performed for the first time in 1748 in Ōsaka 大阪 at the Takemotoza 竹本座 theater, but originally it was written by Takeda Izumo 竹田出雲 (1691-1756) for the ningyō jōruri 人形浄瑠璃, the puppet theater, and then readjusted for the kabuki 歌舞伎, which at the time constituted the favorite show by the middle class middle class. In the representation are staged the heroic deeds of the forty-seven samurai without master, the rōnin 浪人, precisely, who want to avenge the death of their lord Asano Naganori 浅野長矩, forced to seppuku 切腹 (ritual suicide), because inside the castle Edo had unsheathed his sword and wounded the master of ceremonies (kōke) 豪家 (高家). Having carried out this absolutely forbidden action earned him this severe and definitive punishment. In fact, Asano (En'ya Hangan Takasada 塩谷判官高貞 in the drama) had reacted to the repeated provocations and offenses of the master of ceremonies Kira Yoshinaka 吉良義央4 (Moronao)5 in the service of Tsunayoshi 綱吉, fifth shōgun of the Tokugawa family 徳川. Following Asano's death, his assets were confiscated and his family ended in ruin. The samurai who were at his service lost their status

1 Department of Asian and North African Studies, Ca ' Foscari University of Venice. 2 Farewell poem before committing seppuku 切腹 (ritual suicide). Onodera Jūnai (also written 小野寺十内) was 61 years old and was considered one of the bravest of the 47 rōnin. 3 Kanadehon (the syllabary of the 47 signs) refers to the number of rōnin, in addition to the fact that the number forty-seven also recalled the same number of signs of the kana alphabet that appears in the title. 4 Although the name has been pronounced for a long time especially in plays and novels such as "Yoshinaka", in the report of events the Ekisui renbeiroku 易水連袂録 written by an anonymous contemporary in 1703, the name is transcribed as "Yoshihisa". H. D. SMITH II, The Trouble with Terasaka: The Forty-seven Rōnin and the Chūshingura Imagination, in "Japan Review", XVI, 2004, pp. 3-65. The title Ekisui renbeiroku 易水連袂録 refers to the poem "Starting from the river Yishui (ch.Yishui ge 易水歌, jap. Ekisui sōbetsu no uta 易水送別歌) which is attributed to Jingke 荊軻 (Jokka Keika) and composed after the failed attempt to assassinate Emperor Qin 秦 in 227 BC. 5 Kōno Musashi no Kami Moronao 高野武蔵守師直 . becoming, in fact, rōnin (samurai without master)6, but they did not resign themselves to such injustice and for twenty-two months they prepared their revenge; they waited until the protection on Kira loosened and then attacked him, killing him. After bringing Kira's severed head into the Sengakuji 泉岳寺7, the shōgun granted them the honor of performing the ritual seppuku as an extreme demonstration of loyalty to their lord.8 The ceremony took place on the fourth day of the fourth month of the sixteenth year of the Genroku era 元禄, ie March 20, 1704. The story is set in the fourteenth century, at the time of the Taiheiki 太平記 (Chronicle of the Great Pacification), replacing the names of the protagonists to avoid censorship that invested any reference to facts or people related to current events. The plot develops in eleven acts in which the events are articulated and the sufferings of some vassals are told, but two themes are central in the whole story: the first concerns the money necessary to participate in the revenge and to realize it and the second represents the love that becomes the dominant feeling of the cruel Moronao who became infatuated with the young wife of En'ya (Asano) causing his sudden reaction.9 Shortly after the real events, which took place between 1701 and 1702, (the attack on the palace of Kira, in Edo, in fact, the fourteenth day of the twelfth month of the fifteenth year of the Genroku era, which corresponds to January 30, 1703), began to circulate theatrical works that narrated the story. The theater, with its ability to interpret, which underlines the dramatic, romantic, elegant, allusive or parodic aspect from time to time, contributed to the spread and success of the drama. The theatrical performances at the time were also a means of communicating events, usually dramatic, that captured the imagination and referred to specific ideals such as filial piety, honor, incorruptibility, courage, respect, the obedience and sacrifice for one's lord. When Takeda's Chūshingura was staged, almost fifty years had passed since the events and by now the protagonists had become true legendary folk heroes. Two significant aspects can make the work's value deeper understood: on the one hand we find the cultural habit of avoiding direct reference, explicit explanation: in the theater this manifests itself in the lack of expression that is too evident that it is tempered by the adoption of highly conventional, stereotypical and codified dramatic forms. On the other hand, this aspect is inextricably linked to the concept of shibui 渋い that is to a restrained understanding, in which the fact narrated is represented in austere and unadorned way, where the implicit refers to the intrinsic meaning or something very profound that it must be achieved if one wants to avoid being superficial and all this is manifested also as modesty, tranquility, naturalness.

6 Since the word rōnin has, in common language, a derogatory value, the protagonists of the story are designated as "forty-seven gishi (straight men)". 7 Temple of Edo in the current district of Minato 港区. 8 Through the extreme gesture of the seppuku the bushi have the freedom to demonstrate the ability to dispose of their own destiny. At the same time, it is a gesture of maximum autonomy and gratitude towards one's lord. 9 B. RUPERTI, Storia del teatro giapponese. Dalle origini all’Ottocento, Marsilio, Venezia 2016, p. 142.

In the collective imagination, the 47 rōnin, for their determination to do justice to their lord, become the emblem and incarnation of the ideal of loyalty (chū 忠) which, of all the Confucian virtues, more than any other has conditioned the hierarchical and social relations in the Japanese society of the Edo period. Moreover, by their gesture, the samurai without master also demonstrate that they possess another virtue, isagiyosa 潔さ (kind purity or proud grace). Therefore in the story it is clear that the attack on the castle, the subsequent capture and killing of Kira are not dictated by a sudden instinctive reaction, but are the result of a long preparation with the constant awareness that the epilogue, for all, will be the death. The Chūshingura drama is also an opportunity to highlight another fundamental aspect in the social relations of the Tokugawa period. This is the delicate ratio giri-ninjō (義理 / 人情): the duty, the moral obligation required by certain rules or laws of the state and human sentiment, in this case linked to loyalty to one's lord. The loyal vassals act in contravention of a law of the bakufu 幕府 and committing a murder, but they do so according to the feeling of loyalty that binds them to their master. This purity of sentiment and the idealization of revenge, which leads to the sacrifice of individuals for the realization of the enterprise, are sufficient to legitimize a violent action in the eyes of the public.10 Precisely the explicit representation of this complex dynamics could be one of the reasons why the events of Chūshingura enjoy, even today, unequaled popularity.11 Not only do we follow the stories of faithful samurai who do their duty to themselves but in every episode "[...] Mothers, spouses, children, husbands and parents show you how, in the face of the essential duty imposed by the moment, the secondary duties and the deepest feelings must courageously step aside so that the work can be accomplished and injustice be expelled from the Earth ".12 The success of the work soon crossed the borders of Japan: in fact, the Chūshingura was in fact known in Europe as early as 1822 through Illustrations of Japan by the Dutch Isaac Titsingh (1745- 1812),13 an official (opperhoofd)14 of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) who stayed at Deshima 出

10 For the relationship between the Chūshingura and the concept of loyalty: see R. MARANGONI, Specchio di Edo. Il Kanadehon Chūshingura tra ideologia di potere e cultura popolare, unpublished degree thesis 2004/2005, Università degli Studi di Torino; and R. MARANGONI, L’istituzionalizzazione della vendetta in una società guerriera: l’esempio del Giappone dei Tokugawa (1600-1868), in «Itinera. Rivista di Filosofia e di Teoria delle Arti e della Letteratura», 2009, http://www.filosofia.unimi.it/itinera/. 11 Also the cinema has drawn inspiration from this story: from the director Mizoguchi Kenji 溝口健二 (1941-1942) with Genroku Chūshingura 元禄忠臣蔵 (The Chūshingura of the Genroku Era), to Akira Kurosawa 明黒澤 with Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru 悪い奴ほどよく眠る (The Bad Guys Sleep in Peace) from 1960 to Inagaki Hiroshi 稲垣浩 (1962) with Chūshingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki 忠臣蔵花の巻雪の巻 (Chūshingura part I: Flowers; Chūshingura part II: Snow) whose cast is the famous actor Toshirō Mifune 敏郎三船. 12 G. SOULIÈ DE MORANT, La storia dei 47 ronin, Luni Editrice, Milano 2017, p. 9. 13 I. TITSINGH, Illustrations of Japan, Consisting of Private Memoirs and Anecdotes of the Reigning Dynasty of the Djogouns, Ackermann, London 1822. 14 Head of the commercial representative in Japan in 1779-1780, in 1781-1783 and in 1784. 島 for some years and translated and published several Japanese literary works. 15 Still the drama is represented at the theater and the story continues to deeply affect the public. The forty seven heroes are considered the purest interpreters of bushidō 武士道,16 the set of moral and behavioral principles of the samurai and have become over time the ethical heritage of the Japanese people, so much so that they are honored every year with a party dedicated to them. 17

THE SUCCESS OF CHŪSHINGURA IN THE UKIYOE

In the literature the theme of revenge is very popular. Suffice it to mention, among all, the Soga monogatari 曽我物語 (The Story of the Soga Brothers) in which, the two Soga brothers in 1193, after sixteen years of waiting, killed their father's killer.18 It is therefore not surprising that in the woodblock prints (moku hanga 木版画) of the Edo period, particularly in the ukiyoe 浮世絵, the revenge represented in Chūshingura becomes the paradigm for the illustration of other themes related to the kabuki theater and a graphic response to the questions and expectations of the market and the public, demonstrating the close relationship between the artist and the publisher. The parallel development of theatrical representations and their proliferation in the diffusion of ukiyoe prints derives, in the first place, from the very nature of the graphic product, that is, from its wide diffusion and from the relatively contained costs. Secondly, ukiyoe, like theater, already includes, among its favorite themes, the story of historical events, myths and legends. Moreover, the same buyers of the prints were mostly the frequenters of the pleasure districts and the audience that crowded the theaters, so it is understood how prints and dramas were subjected in equal measure to the same censorship rules of the Tokugawa government.19 In the first decade of their production, the prints of the Floating

15 Secret Memoirs of the Shoguns. Isaac Titsingh and Japan, 1779-1822, ed. and introduced by Timon Screech, Routledge, London / New York 2006. 16 As noted by Aldo Tollini (A. TOLLINI, L’ideale della Via. Samurai, monaci e poeti nel Giappone medievale, Einaudi, Torino 2017, p.143) the term bushidō prevails in use relatively recently, from the Meiji period 明治, after the second half of the nineteenth century. In the Edo period (1600-1868), formulas like bushi no michi 武士の道 or shidō 士道 in which the word michi, or narai, referred to a skill learned with constant exercise and application, were preferred. 17 In Akō 赤穂 in Hyōgo prefecture 兵庫 in Kansai 関西, Gishisai 義士祭 on December 14 and Tokyo 18 The brothers Sukenari 祐成 and Tokimune 時致 avenged the death of their father Itō Sukeyasu 伊東祐泰 assassinated by General Kudō Suketsune 工藤祐経 in 1177. They killed themselves through seppuku on 28 May 1193. See T. J COGAN, The Tale of the Soga Brothers, University of Tokyo Press, Tokyo 1987. 19 The city magistrate machi bugyō 町奉行 formally controlled that every printed image adhered to the rules of censorship by prohibiting the publication of works considered morally or politically offensive or even excessively richly decorated. The first decisive edict appeared in 1673 and obliged all print editors not to mention facts concerning the bakufu affairs (gokōgi no gi 御公儀之義). He demanded that permission be required for anything that could "cause problems for people" (shojin World followed the vicissitudes of the drama, depicting on single sheets above all figures of actors who played the characters of Chūshingura, not unlike what happened for other theatrical dramas. With the passage of time, however, the fame of the story assumed a role that required special treatment: they created sets of twelve prints, each dedicated to a single act of representation. The Chūshingura became the major source of inspiration for what are called the "standard" kabuki prints shibaie 芝居絵, this term meaning prints produced during certain performances and sold as a sort of souvenir of the actors who acted in that theatrical season a particular and recognizable role. The preferred format ranged from the hosoban 細版 (14.5x33 cm)20 to the ōban 大版 (25.4x38 cm) and was particularly used by the Katsukawa 勝川 and Utagawa 歌川 schools. Initially, the Chūshingura prints, produced by Katsukawa Shunshō 勝川春章, for example, followed the plot of the story slavishly, representing some salient moments of each act. The distinguishing traits and physiognomic characteristics typical of each actor in his feminine or masculine role soon begin, perfectly in line, therefore, with the ideals of ukiyo in which young and beautiful heroes and heroines are represented, and they become examples more of love than symbols of honor. Shunkō 春好 and Shun'ei 春英21 partially followed this path using the chūban 中版 format (19x25.5 cm), but underlining the martial aspects of the drama, mixing the main events with secondary stories and making the whole more realistic, even thanks to the use of very simplified settings. But the true acceleration towards the popularity of the meiwaku tsukamatsurisōrō gi 諸人迷惑仕候儀) or things deemed "strange" (mezurashiki koto 珍敷事). Similar edicts followed in 1684 and 1698 with the addition of censorship on "suspicious things" (utagawashiku zonjisōrō gi うたがハしく存候儀), "faddish things" (hayarigoto はやり事), " unusual things of the moment "(tōza no kawaritaru koto 当座之替りたる事). See: H. D. SMITH II, The Media and Politics of Japanese Popular History: The Case of the Akō Gishi, in J. C. BAXTER, Historical Consciousness Historiography, and Modern Japanese Values, Kyoto International Center for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken), 2006, p. 80. See also, J. NELSON DAVIS, Partners in Prints. Artistic Collaboration and the Ukiyo-e Market, University of Hawai'i Press, Honolulu 2015, pp. 15 and ff.; R. H. MITCHELL, Censorship in Imperial Japan, Princeton University Press, Princeton 1983; H. SUWA, Shuppan kotohajime: Edo no hon, Mainichi shinbunsha, Tokyo 1978, p. 66; S. E. THOMPSON, Censorship and Ukiyo-e Prints, in The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints, ed. by E. Reigle Newland, 2 vols., Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam 2005, I, p. 318 and ff.; E. TINIOS, Japanese Prints, British Museum Press, London 2010, pp. 38-45; R. BUCKLAND, Kabuki Japanese Theater Prints, National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh 2013, pp. XXI-XXII. 20 The measurements are based on height. For a detailed description of the variations of the dimensions in the print format: The Hotei Encyclopedia of Japanese Woodblock Prints ..., cit., Vol. 2. 21 Both belonging to the Katsukawa school. Shunkō (1743-1812), since the 1790s began to produce portraits of actors in the genre of the ōkubie. Even Shun'ei (1762-1819) since 1791 uses the same subjects. His predilection for kabuki theater is manifested through Shibai kinmō zue's 戲塲訓蒙圖彙 illustrations in seven volumes, in collaboration with Utagawa Toyokuni and written by Shikitei Sanba 式亭三馬. drama, well beyond its representation in the kabuki theater, is due to the introduction, as the prevailing graphic genre, of the ukie 浮絵 prints or perspective prints.This type of prints emphasized the depth of the space, using a technique influenced by the European perspective and, often, used through special lenses that suggested a three-dimensional image. Sometimes the linear perspective very exaggerated in the ukie prints served to reduce the size of the human figures - in this case the rōnin- compared to the imposing buildings, to increase the sense of the enormity of the challenge that the heroes had set themselves as a final goal of their mission. 22 (Fig. 1) There are countless series with Chūshingura print sets that use this technique and all the major artists of the nineteenth century have tried, at least once, in this field. Great masters of ukiyoe such as Shunchō 春長,23 Hokusai 北斎,24 Hiroshige 広重, 25Utamaro 歌麿,26 Toyokuni 豊国,27 Kunisada 国貞, 28 Eisen 英泉,29 Kuniyoshi 国芳,30 Kunichika 国周,31 invented particular graphic ways to represent architectural spaces that allow a vision from high or allowed to enter enclosed spaces, as if the roof had been removed.32 The substantial difference compared to the "standard" prints is that the ukie allow a representation of the real world with its architecturally detailed structures, with large contour landscapes and, above all, with depictions of

22 See, for example, the scenes of the initial attack on the outer wall of the Kō no Moronao 高師直 residence. 23 Chūshingura, hashirae format 柱絵 (13x73 cm), about 1780. 24 Shinpan Ukie Chushingura 新版浮き絵忠臣蔵(Chūshingura, Perspective Images, New Edition). Not dated but probably from 1798, published by Iseya Rihei 伊勢屋利兵衛 (Kinjudō) 錦樹堂. 25 Chūshingura, published by Marusei 丸清 (Jukakudō) 寿鶴堂 between 1842-1853 in the format ōban yokoe 大判横絵. 26 Komei bijin mite. Chūshingura jūnidai tsuzuki (The Chūshingura Drama Parodied by Famous Beauties: A set of Twelve Prints), 1795. 27 Chūshingura published by Yamashiroya Tōkei 山城屋とうけい (Jakurindō) 若林堂, 1795- 1800. 28 Kanadehon Chūshingura, uses the triptych format to represent a single completed scene, around 1835. 29 Chūshingura two series in the format ōban yokoe one of about 1830 with the title having large and white characters on a horizontal black label surrounded by a border with the sign of tomoe 巴 (comma- shaped sign). For the second series: B. STEWART, A Guide to Japanese Prints and their Subjects Matter, Dover Edition, New York 1979, pp. 271-272. 30 See following pages. 31 Kanadehon Chūshingura, circa 1866 series. 32 Toyokuni I, for example, created a series of five prints at the beginning of the nineteenth century that, by leading the spectator's eye in an original way through architectures, roads and natural landscapes from one scene to the next, invented the intelligent use of the architectural elements as separators of different scenes. Also Kunisada, for example, used this expedient in some Chūshingura representations in which actions taking place inside and outside the same building can be observed simultaneously. human figures that do not necessarily resemble actors, but to ordinary people, thus reducing the story to a much more realistic dimension. (Fig. 2) The complex narrative of the events is difficult to transfer from a written text to an image and therefore the ukiyoe, simplifying the plot and making even indirect allusions, allows to represent the salient scenes using only simple details but immediately identifiable by the public. (Fig. 3)33 The graphic division of the scenes resembles that of the theatrical performances with the main characters in the foreground and others in the background, as happens for example, in the famous polychrome print by Hokusai Tsurugaoka shinzen 鶴ケ丘神前 (Facing the Shrine [of Hachiman] in Tsurugaoka) shodan 初段 (Act I) from the series Kanadehon Chūshingura of 1806.34 (Fig. 4) One of the challenges presented to ukiyoe artists is to create a graphic equivalent of the theatrical narration. Here then is explained the appearance of the prints called ōkubie 大首絵 (big heads) and those called nigaoe 似顔絵, ie close-up and "resembling" individual images, which all recognize and allow a standardization of the somatic characteristics of the actors. A kind of likeness of likeness, as in the 1796 portrait of the actor Sawamura Sōjūrō III 三代目沢村宗十郎 in the role of Ōboshi Yuranosuke 大星由良之助 by Utagawa Toyokuni I. (Fig. 5)35

33 Ashikaga Tadayoshi 足利直義 goes to Kamakura, charged by his eldest brother the shōgun Ashikaga Takauji 足利尊氏, to recognize (among the 47 finds) the helmet of Nitta Yoshisada 新田義貞 (1301-1338) who has just been killed by the shōgun. Kaoyo 顔世 wife of En'ya Hangan (Asano) recognizes the precious helmet (kabuto aratame 兜改め) that had been donated by the emperor to the brave warrior. The helmet can now be put in the sanctuary of Hachiman in Tsurugaoka. Momoi Wakasanosuke 桃井若狭之助 (young samurai lord of Harima 播磨) in the background observes the scene on the sidelines. The face of the two characters in the foreground is very expressive. Moronao, is recognizable by the design of the character of his name, kō 高, which is perceived between the folds of the kimono. The right hand tucked under the left sleeve of the kimono, indicates that he has not yet delivered the letter to Kaoyo. The round coat of arms on the left is Tadayoshi. 34 Moronao (Kira) (chief adviser of the shōgun) delivers a love letter to Kaoyo. On the left Momoi Wakasanosuke observes the scene. While at the theater the action is represented rather furtively here Hokusai shows it openly through the elegant and lithe position of the woman. The total concentration of the action in the foreground is the same that happens at the theater where the scene takes place before the eyes of the public. 35 This is the drama Edo no hana. Akō no shiogama 江戸花赤穂塩竃 (Flower of Edo, the salt boiler / Shiogama of Akō) by Namiki Gohei 並木五瓶, played at the Kiri 桐 theater (Kiriza 桐座) from the fourth month of 1796. "shiogama" means the muffler to prepare the salt and alludes to the famous salt marshes of Akō which were one of the riches of the fiefdom but, at the same time, also refers to the locality / Shiogama bay, in the north of Japan near Matsushima 松島, known for the production of salt so much to be sung and celebrated in poetry in the Heian 平安 period. Minamoto no Tōru (822-895) 源融, son of the Emperor Saga 嵯峨 and considered one of the models of poetic genes, had his Shiogama scenery rebuilt in his garden by bringing salt to Kyoto. The print is a nishikie in ōban format, signed Utagawa Toyokuni ga 歌川豊国画 (top left), publisher Uemura Yohei 上村 Each artist interpreted this challenge in his own way. Kuniyoshi, for example, in the Seichū gishi den 誠忠義士伝 (Stories of the True Loyalty of the Faithful Samurai) of 1847-8, on the one hand aimed at greater historical accuracy by adding to the accurate portrait of each rōnin a written biography of the hero represented,36 on the other, he used this opportunity to experiment the study of the single human figure in action in an athletic movement, but never exaggerated, on a neutral background. Moreover, it is remarkable that in the 51 nishikie 錦絵 prints that make up the series, practically no repetition in postures or movements is known. (Figures 6-7).37 The addition of a "biography"38 also appears in the series Seichū gishin den 誠忠義心伝 (Tale of Faithful Hearts)39 which, changing only the color choice, tells the story of the heroes and silent heroines involved in the Akō affair: mothers, wives, brothers, sisters, courtiers and servants overwhelmed, too, by the tragedy of the suicide of their

与兵衛 (seal on the right), now in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum. I thank prof. Bonaventura Ruperti for precise indications on this kabuki drama. 36 The debut took place in 1814 with the parody of the drama. Kuniyoshi realized the illustrations for a kusazōshi 草双紙 (popular woodblock-printed illustrated literature ) entitled Gobuji Chūshingura ご無事忠臣蔵 (The Chūshingura with a Happy Ending) and two humorous works: Bekemono Chūshingura 化け物忠臣蔵 (The Monster’s Chūshingura) in 1839- 42 and the game of cards whose title Gamatehon hyōkingura 蝦蟇手本ようきんぐら (Treasury of Humor Modeled by Toads) of 1847- 48 reproduces in parodistic form the Kanadehon Chūshingura where the protagonists were toads instead of samurai. 37 In fig. 6: Aihara Esuke Munefusa 相原江助宗房. In fig. 7: Ichimura Uzaemon 市村羽左衛門 as Satō Yomoshichi 佐藤与茂七. The print is the third part of a triptych that includes Nakamura Utaemon 中村歌右衛門 as Ōboshi Yuranosuke 大星由良之助 and Bandō Shiuka 坂東しうか as Ōboshi Rikiya 大星力弥. 38 The text of the kaisho-style biographies is the most readable of calligraphic styles and was composed by Ippitsuan 一筆庵. Among the portrait biographies of the forty-seven rōnin we also remember Chūshin gishi kōmei kurabe 忠臣蔵士高名競 (Comparison of the High Renown of the Loyal Retainer and Faithful Samurai) of about 1850, Seichū gishi shōzō 誠忠義士省像 (Portraits of the Faithful Samurai of True Loyalty) of the end of 1852 and Gishi shinzō 義士眞像 (True Portraits of the Faithful Samurai), in the middle of 1853. In 1836 Kuniyoshi had brought another series with the same subject Chūshingura gishi soroi 忠臣蔵義士揃 (Array of the Faithful Samurai from the Storehouse of the Loyal Retainers) to the stage of the finished drawings for the engraver - as quoted in B.W. ROBINSON, Summary Catalog of Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi in the Collection of Ferd Lieftinck of Haren, private publication Verenigde Drukkerijen Hoitsema NV, Groningen 1953, p. 7. In 1857, four years before his death, Kuniyoshi completed his last series on the valiant samurai with Seichū meimei gishin kagami 誠忠名々義臣鏡 (Mirror of True Loyalty of the Faithful Retainers, [considered] Individually). 39 Notice how the samurai character "shi" 士 of the title is replaced by that of "shin" 心 heart completely changing the meaning of the work. For a complete examination of the two series: see D. R. WEINBERG, Kuniyoshi. The Faithful Samurai, (1st ed. Leiden 2000) Hotei Publishing, Amsterdam 2017. relatives or their masters. A different choice is made by Hiroshige: in the treatment of drama he emphasizes landscape representation by developing the depth of space and creating a strong contrast in proportions. In fact, the use of bokashi ぼかし (nuance) contributes to this purpose and suggests, at the same time, the sense of distance. The identity of the characters, even if recognizable for those familiar with the story, is overshadowed by the surrounding nature; what interests the viewer is the concept of movement, travel and movement of figures (Fig. 8).40 One of the most interesting and most striking developments in the treatment of Chūshingura in ukiyoe prints concerns the use of the mitate 見立て (parody, disguise). In reality, it is a matter of the wise simultaneous juxtaposition of past and present, of humor, of satire, of the sacred and the profane. The salient episodes of the story are interpreted no longer by valiant samurai but by female beauties. We are dealing with another aspect of the concept of fūryū 風流–a word often used also in titles - which refers to everything that is fashionable, elegant, à la page. Linked to the world of courtesans and pleasure quarters, it is also a refined way of recalling literary tradition, making it contemporary and therefore fashionable.41 Utamaro, stimulated perhaps by the enormous popularity of the drama, 42 makes a refined and systematic use of the mitate, for example in the Kōmyō (Kōmei) bijin mitate Chūshingura jūnimai tsuzuki 高名美人見たて忠臣蔵十二枚つづき (The Parody of Chūshingura Interpreted by Famous Female Beauties, a Series of Twelve Prints). In this series made in 179543 not only the fashion of the era, the design of kimonos, the entertainment activities in tea houses, but above all the allusion and the disguise, as in the famous print - the third in the series - is represented, which parodistically represents the episode in the third act Kamakura yakara ninjō 鎌倉館刃傷 (Wound at the Kamakura Palace) with three famous courtesans who personify Moronao, Kakogawa Honzō 加古川本蔵 and En'ya. 44 The latter, on the right, in the guise of bijin 美人 (feminine beauty) raises a rolled towel over

40 Tōkaidō michiyuki 東海道道行. (Michiyuki tabiji no yomeiri 道行き旅路の嫁入り The Bride's Journey) Konami 小浪 daughter of Honzō, after the failure of her engagement with Rikiya 力弥, goes with her mother Tonase 戸無瀬 to Yamashina 山科 to try to remedy the situation. 41 A. HAFT, Aesthetic Strategies of the Floating World. Mitate, Yatsushi, and Fūryū in Early Modern Japanese Popular Culture, Brill, Leiden-Boston 2013. 42 The three major theaters of Edo simultaneously set up the representation of Chūshingura in the fourth and fifth month of the Kansei 7 完成 era (1795). 43 The series includes ten single prints plus a final diptych for a total of eleven scenes. Small cartouches individually identify female beauties or the place where they work. It is a cross-section of life behind the scenes in the pleasure quarter. The choice to represent the events of the theater in single sheets serves to maintain a coherent conducting thread; the single sheets, moreover, can be collected and then combined to form a book. 44 For a complete description of the print see S. ASANO, T. CLARK, The Passionate Art of Kitagawa Utamaro, exhibition catalog (London, British Museum, 31st August - 22 October 1995; Chiba City Museum of Art, 3 November - 10 December 1995), 2 vols, The British Museum Press, London 1995, I, pp. 158-59, category 210-3. the head, instead of the sword wielded by the character of the story, while in the center, the courtesan Osei おせい, in the role of Honzō, seeks to block En'ya. Utamaro replaces a violent scene with a frivolous domestic dispute. Moreover, this graphic construction allows him to organize the figures following the asymmetrical composition of the so-called hippari mie 引っ張り見得 (group mie / 見栄) which provided on the stage the freezing of the action through the stylization of the figure. Often it is a representation of a single individual; the intense facial expression and the melodramatic gesture generate the sense of emotional change. It freezes the movement of the actor for a few moments in a fixity that is "communication of the maximum physical and intellectual emotion of the actor to the public, the supreme moment in which it is delivered completely".45 This is not a moment of static, to perform it the actor is charged with energy and takes an inspiration that will allow him to hold his breath for the duration of the pose. In the 1800s, Utamaro produced at least another six sets of prints related to the drama. It is Ukiyo Chūshingura 浮世忠臣蔵 (The Floating World of the Faithful Samurai), Chūshingura osana asobi 忠臣蔵幼遊び (The Chūshingura Amusement for Children) an attempt to simplify and make the story usable even for a non-adult audience and Chūshingura misao kurabe 忠臣蔵操比べ (Chūshingura. Loyalty Test) in which, deliberately, relocates the story in a modern context demonstrating, once again, the enormous power of attraction of the deeds of the faithful samurai. The other three series are simply titled Chūshingura.

If throughout the Tokugawa period, the Chūshingura was a source of inspiration and stimulus for the ukiyoe artists who, through innovative graphic compositions, interpreted the story according to their sensitivity and the fashion of their time, showing that the sentiments and ethical values proposed through the exploits of the forty-seven samurai were still current and attractive, in 1869 with the beginning of the Meiji 明治 period, another master of ukiyoe, Yoshitoshi 芳年, proposes again, through a series of forty-nine prints on single sheets Seichū gishi meimei gaden 誠忠義士銘々画伝 (Illustrated Biographies of the Faithful Samurai of Chūshingura),46 the events of Chūshingura. The portraits of the famous rōnin become the extreme attempt to refer to the traditional virtues with the awareness, however, that the "modernization" brought by the Westerners marked, inexorably, the end of an era.

45 G. AZZARONI, Dentro il mondo del kabuki, CLUEB, Bologna 1989, p. 123. 46 Some sheets signed Yoshitoshi hitsu 芳年筆 (Yoshitoshi brush), others Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi zu 一魁斎芳年図 (Illustrations by Ikkaisai Yoshitoshi).