Artist: Kuniyoshi Utagawa (1798 - 1861) Title: 5. Hodogaya. Yura Hyogo, his Wife (Nyobo) Minato, and Shinozuka Hachiro Series: Fifty-three Parallels for the Tokaido Road Publisher: Ebiya Rinnosuke Date: c. 1845 Condition: Binding holes on the right. Wormholes on the left and bottom margins. Slightly trimmed. Some soiling throughout. Size: 24.8 x 36.4 cm The series 'Fifty-three Parallels for the Tokaido Road' became famous for its striking designs and stories illustrated, but also because of the collaboration between publishers and three important artists of the day. Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798 - 1861) produced thirty-one prints for the series, Utagawa Hiroshige (1797 - 1858) nineteen and Utagawa Kunisada (1786 - 1864) the remaining eight, adding up to more than the 'fifty-three' prints implied in the title. Each print has a cartouche at the top with explanatory text on the stories drawn from folklore and history associated with the post-stations of Tokaido. Warrior Yura Hyogo is shown seated inside his military camp near Hodogaya while expecting orders from his warlord Nitta Yoshioki. The messenger before him, however, brings him bad news. Yoshioki is dead, betrayed by a former retainer. The messenger appears to be acting out the final moments when, in a sinking boat and under the threat of arrows, Yoshioki honourably performed 'seppuku' (ritual suicide). Kuniyoshi captured this dramatic scene in another print from the same Tokaido series, station Kawasaki.