Yoshitoshi: The Story of Otomi and Yosaburô. (Sold)

Artist: Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
Title: The Story of Otomi and Yosaburô.
Series: New Selection of Eastern Brocade Pictures: SHINSEN AZUMA NISHIKIE
Date: 1885

At right is Yosaburô, a petty criminal, who wears his head wrapped in a scarf to cover the knife marks inflicted by a gangster whose girlfriend he once had an affair with. At left is Kômoriyasu (“Yasu the Bat”), Yosaburô’s parter in crime, who is here pointing with his finger. 

The figure of Yasu the Bat is said to be a portrait of Toshimasa, one of Yoshitoshi’s pupils, who paid for his lessons by acting as Yoshitoshi’s personal servant. Others say that the depiction of Yosaburô represents the way Yoshitoshi looked on himself.

Condition: Very good impression, color and condition. Untrimmed and unbacked sheets.
Dimensions: ôban diptych
Publisher: Tsunashima Kamekichi
Literature: Shown in color in “Beauty & Violence”, number 55.1, page 76.
Seal: Yoshitoshi
Signature: Yoshitoshi

SKU: YOT315