Toshikata: Oversized Work of a Samurai on a Secret Mission (Sold)

Unusual, oversized print showing a samurai scanning the sea behind him as he holds a small craft that has entered a cove or inlet. He wears his armor and holds an object wrapped in reeds, while his companion on the boat busies himself. The companion wears a courtier’s hat from the Heian Period, so this work is probably illustrating a classic such as the Tale of the Heike. The size of this work is larger than dai-oban, something that this dealer has never seen before in a work by this artist.