IHL Cat. #2596

The second print appearing in Volume 3 of Gishi taikan, edited by Fukumoto Nichinan.

Ōtaka Gengo Tadao 大高源五忠雄 (1672-1703), one of the faithful samurai of Asano Naganori 浅野長矩, pictured in this print walking stick in hand, was a man of unparalleled loyalty and an expert in military horsemanship, the art of tea drinking and composing hokku (a poetic form connected with the seasons and pre-dating haiku). Prior to the attack on Kira's mansion, where he was wounded, he had gone to Edo under an alias and spied on Kira's household. Using the guise of being a tea master and poet, he learned that Kira was to host a tea ceremony on the 14th day of the 12th month, leading Ōishi to set that date for the attack. 

In 1697 Gengo wrote a travelogue of his sixteen days on the Tōkaidō road as part of Lord Asano Naganori's retinue, returning to Akō from Edo where his lord had fulfilled his obligation to the shogun of sankin kotai under which daimyō spent every other year at the shogun's court in Edo. The travelogue, interlaced with hokku, is simply titled Teichū kikō 丁丑紀行.[1] 

Fukumoto in his commentary on this print quotes from the travelogue, as follows: "On the nineteenth day [of the seventh month] we departed from the ryokan at Seki (the barrier checkpoint at the 48th station on the Tōkaidō) at sunrise and descended with our horses on a mountain road. On the way to the bottom of the hill, the scenery was different. The mountain on the right, Fudesuteyama, Sakanoshita, is said to have been named "Thrown Paintbrush Mountain" by Kohōgen.[2] The appearance of this mountain indicates the presence of the gods and goddesses....  The time is now at the height of autumn, and the mountains in all directions are still weaving their brocade."

[1] Fire-Ox (14th term of the sexagenary cycle or 1697) Travelogue. It was not published until 1858.

[2] Legend has it that Kohōgen Motonobu (Kano Motonobu), a famous sixteenth-century painter, threw away his ink-soaked brush in a rage because he couldn’t adequately capture the beauty of the Fudesuteyama landscape.