絵本赤穂義士銘々伝
This is a Meiji-era Japanese picture book (ehon) by Shimizu Beishū, published in 1887 by Kyōsōya, retelling the Ako retainers' vendetta in black-and-white woodblock-style prints for a general reading public. Its pictures show indoor domestic scenes with lamps, folding screens and kneeling figures, plus a dramatic sword fight with a raised umbrella and a shield-wielding swordsman, rendered in bold patterned line work that a designer could take for strong figure-ground contrast and decorative textile motifs.
