Act eleven [of the Kanadehon Chūshingura]

Catalog note / 解説

The print depicts the eleventh scene, the last act of the Chüshingura. It is a continuation of the illustration of scene 10. After careful preparation and planning, the ronin arrive at Kira's mansion, in the snow. They put up a bamboo ladder to climb to the roof; some are already on it. One man attempts to batter down the sealed gate with a huge sledgehammer. A sense of this crucial moment is conveyed by the figures crowded around the ladder. Hokusai combined Western-style perspective in the outdoor setting, with its typical low horizon, and Japanese treatment of buildings, which do not conform to the principles of Western perspective. (Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, “Hokusai and Hirosh…