Nakatsugawa: The Wife and Daughter of Horibe Yasubei in a Grove of Pine Trees, No. 46 from the series The Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō

Fundamentally a picture of beautiful women in a pine forest setting, this print depicts a subject with subtle layers of significance. Linked to the popular play Chūshingura, about 47 loyal rōnin (masterless samurai), this print references the story of Nakayama Yasubei 中山安兵衛. When his adoptive uncle was ambushed and killed, Yasubei avenged him, defeating many attackers. The wife and daughter of samurai Horibe Yahei Kanamaru 堀部弥兵衛金丸 witnessed Yasubei’s bravery. In the print they are watching the battle. Hearing of Yasubei’s prowess, Horibe offers him his daughter in marriage, and adopts him into the family, giving him their name. The two men later become part of the 47 rōnin.

Inspired by a Hiroshige series that included landscapes of the 69 stations of the mountain route between Edo (Tokyo) and Kyoto, this series by Kuniyoshi includes an inset landscape of the scenery at each stop, here Nakatsugawa. However, Kuniyoshi’s prints often use puns on the station name as the real subject of the prints. Here, he connected the Naka in the place name with the Naka of Yasubei’s original family name.