About This Print

This print pictures two maids tickling a third maid in a parody of the third scene in act XI of the play Chūshingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers).  The circular inset (see detail above) shows the actual scene from act XI in which the ronin, after having staged a night attack on Moronao's mansion, drag Moronao from his hiding place.  They will give him the same sword their master used to commit suicide and invite him to do the same.  When he refuses he will be beheaded.  (Perhaps being beheaded is a better way to die than being tickled to death, as in the print's scene.  It certainly is quicker.)

It is one of twelve prints, shown below, from the series titled PictorialSiblings to The Treasury of Royal Retainers.

About the Series PictorialSiblings to The Treasury of Loyal Retainers (Chūshingura e-kyōdai)

Source: The Artist's Touch, The Craftsman's Hand: Three Centuries of Japanese Prints from the Portland Art Museum, Maribeth Graybill, Portland Art Museum, Oregon, 2011, p. 218.

"Perhaps no artist was more prolific in reworking the Chūshingura story than Kunisada, whopresented the tale as history, as biography, as a star vehicle for notedactors, and – as seen here – in irreverent parodies.  Playing with the venerated theme of warriorloyalty, this series juxtaposes moments of high drama from the tale of revengewith light-hearted activities in the daily lives of contemporary women.  The series was produced in 1859 when theprintmakers’ craft was at a pinnacle. New, more opaque pigments were available to produce saturated colors,and block carvers had achieved remarkable virtuosity in transferring theartist’s designs into woodblocks.  Theembossing and hand-wiped shaded washes indicate that the series was printed asa deluxe edition."

To read more about the representations of Chūshingura in woodblock prints see the article on this site Chūshingura (The Treasury of Loyal Retainers) in Woodblock Prints.