Autumn Moon at Tōin: Hirai Inaba-no-kami Yasumasa and the Thief Hakamadare Yasusuke

This version of Yoshitoshi’s first Flute Player Triptych from 1868 was issued in 1894, after his death. It was revised and “updated” and thus reflects the change in the market. The cartouche with the signature of Katsukawa Shuntei III, who had designed the background, was removed in the bottom left corner and replaced with a cartouche about the publisher of this reprint. Since three different variations of this reprint exist, it must have been rather popular among buyers. The earliest, shown here, shows Yasumasa with the flute in his hands, dressed in a blue coat. In the later versions this coat is rendered in an orange-yellow tone. A final version, perhaps from around 1900, is without a publisher’s seal or Yoshitoshi’s signature.