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Description
An image of a woman, bound, with hair in her mouth. Over the two-year period from 1887 to 1888, Yoshitoshi produced his last and most accomplished set of "newspaper prints" as supplements to the Yamato newspaper. Muraoka (1786-1873) was a supporter of the loyalist faction that disagreed with the shogunate's new open-door policy. She was arrested and severely tortured in 1858 during the Ansei Purge. Her unbroken loyalty won her considerable acclaim once the shogunate fell. However, Yoshitoshi's depiction of Muraoka borders on sadomasochistic fantasy: bound with ropes she looks seductive rather than distressed, and she looks far younger than the seventy-or-more years she would have been at the time.
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