Rampley & Co. 

Utagawa Kuniyoshi 1798-1861, Portrait of Kansake Yagoro Noriyasu by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1852

• 100% Silk
• Hand Rolled
• Designed and Printed in Britain
• 42cm x 42cm

This pocket square depicts a samurai named as Kansake Yagoro Noriyasu, and was made by Utagawa Kuniyoshi. He is represented fighting, although no other samurai is depicted. Samurais were not only fighters, but also intellectuals, poets, or philosophers. It belongs to the Ukiyo-e genre, which emerged in Japan in the 17th through 19th centuries. It means pictures of the floating world. Different techniques were used, such as manual print on hand-made paper using woodblocks, or more classic paintings. The subjects were wide, but included female figures, landscapes, and sumo wrestlers and were often inspired by legends.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798- 1861) is one of the last great masters of the ukiyo-e genre, and was mostly known for portrayals of famous samurai and legendary heroes. In his art, he was able to represent a sense of action in the samurai’s faces and behaviour, often depicted in combat. Kuniyoshi also made prints of more traditional subjects such as landscapes, or bijin-ga - a term to describe pictures of beautiful women in Japanese art.