Kyosai here turns "seppuku" (ritualized suicide) into something treated humorously: suicide by disembowelment is about to be performed on a blowfish. This print represents a scene from a play that parodies one of the most popular dramas in Japan, "Kanadehon Chushingura." Based on a true story, the original play is about forty-seven loyal samurai sworn to avenge their master's death. In Act 5, the father-in-law of Kampei, one of the samurai, is robbed and murdered by a bandit.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Kawanabe_Ky%C5%8Dsai" class="extiw" title="w:en:Kawanabe Kyōsai"><span title="Japanese artist (1831–1889)">Kawanabe Kyōsai</span></a>
</bdi>
1878 (Meiji)
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