Japan, 1890This print from the series Kyōdō risshi no motoi (Instructive Models of Lofty Ambition) was designed by Mizuno Toshikata. While this specific print is unnumbered, it is listed in the 48th position in the series' Table of Contents. The scene depicts the arrival in February 1864 of the exiled Chōshū rebel and later hero of the Meiji Revolution, Takasugi Shinsaku (1839–1867). Fleeing under the alias Tani Umenosuke, he sought refuge in Fukuoka at the home of the widowed poetess and rebel sympathizer Nomura Bōtō (1806–1867). For aiding Takasugi, Nomura would herself be sent into exile by the bakufu. Takasugi played a crucial military role in defeating the shogunate, though he tragically died of tuberculosis at the age of 28 before seeing the beginning of the Meiji Era. Toshikata contributed a total of 16 prints to this series.