忠臣蔵

Chūshingura Act XI, Scene I: The Night Attack Advances

忠臣蔵

Hiroshige Watchpad - like all our Hiroshige accessories - is based on an actual 180-year-old woodblock print (ukiyo-e, circa 1835-39) by celebrated ukiyo-e grandmaster Utagawa Hiroshige which we own in our permanent art collection. The famed artwork is laser-cut on the leather. Sister copies of this artwork are on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the British Museum, and the Art Institute of Chicago, amongst others.

夜打押寄

Titled ‘chūshingura Act XI, Scene I: The Night Attack Advances’ (‘jūichidan-me ichi, yochi oshiyose’ 忠臣蔵 十一段目一 夜打押寄), the artwork is part of a series based on the highly acclaimed kabuki epic chūshingura (忠臣蔵).Chūshingura is a fictionalized account of the Akō Incident of 1701. The historical event revolves around 47 rōnins - masterless samurai - and their mission to exact honor for the demise of their lord. Although the rōnins were rightfully punished for their unlawful act - the story celebrates the key themes of unity, perseverance, loyalty, and self-sacrifice, making it one of Japan's most familiar historical stories.

Chūshingura

‘Chūshingura is a cultural phenomenon of a scale, complexity, and durability unusual in world history. Candidates for comparison might be King Arthur for England, Jeanne d’Arc for France, the Song of Ch’un-hyang for Korea, or the Alamo for the United States.’ - Henry D Smith, 2003 Monumenta Nipponica.