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A work made of color woodblock print; oban.

The Night Attack, Part 6: Offering Incense (Youchi roku, shoko ba), from the series "The Revenge of the Loyal Retainers (Chushingura)"

c. 1834/39

Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858

Japan

Going beyond the play, Hiroshige closes his series by showing the ronins’ arrival at the Temple of Sengaku-ji, a temple that still stands today in the southern district of Tokyo. Here, the ronin are met by the abbot of the temple. After prayers, evidence of Kira’s death will be placed at Asano’s tomb. The forty-seven retainers will eventually be buried in a quadrangle adjacent to their master’s monument.

Color woodblock print; oban

Arts of Asia