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Description
In the kabuki play "Hikosan Gongen Chikai no Sukedachi," Kyôgoku no Takumi kills his master Yoshioka Ichimisai and his master's daughter Okiku. His daughter Osono searches for her father's killer, but he has changed his name and gone into hiding. She is also searching for her sister's young son Yasomatsu, who disappeared at the time of the murder. Rokusuke, a former rival of the killer Kyôgoku no Takumi, lives quietly in the countryside as a farmer. He found the child Yasomatsu at the scene of Ichimisai's murder, but has no idea that this is the grandson of his former teacher. He hangs the boy's kimono outside his house hoping that the boy's family will see it. Osono, disguised as a traveling priest, sees the kimono and attacks Rokusuke, whom she thinks killed her father. The print depicts this moment: he raises one arm to fend off her attack; with the other he holds the boy Yasomatsu to his chest. A folding screen is knocked askew as he evades her assault; in the background a kettle hangs over a fire pit and a sword rack holding bamboo practice swords (shinai) hangs on the wall. Upon learning Osono's name, Rokusuke tells her he knows the true killer of her father, and that the boy he holds in his arms is in fact her nephew, whom he had found abandoned. (http://www.kabuki21.com/keyamura.php)
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