Tokyo, Maki Kinban, 1897. Five hand-coloured plates. Folio (37.0 x 24.0 cm). One in passepartout (50.0 x 35.0 cm).

Includes cut-out figures illustrating the capture of Ishikawa Goemon at the Fuji no Moro shrine. Rare intact sheets. The first presenting an image of the assembled piece. Goemon (1558-1594) was the leader of a group of bandits during the Azuchi-Momoyama period in Japan. Over time, and especially during the Edo period (1603-1867), his life and deeds became a centre of attention, and he became known as a legendary Japanese "Robin Hood" who stole gold and other valuables to give to the poor. He and his son were boiled alive in public after their failed assassination attempt on the Sengoku period warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. His legend lives on in contemporary Japanese popular culture, often giving him greatly exaggerated ninja skills. He is the subject of many classic kabuki plays, and a subject of several pre-WWII Japanese films. There are generally two ways in which Goemon has been most often portrayed in the modern popular culture: either a young, slender ninja, or a powerfully-built, hulking Japanese bandit (see Wikipedia). Small hole in top left margins (in one leaf a small chip), minimal creasing to a few corners, otherwise fine.