Author: Ogata Gekkō (尾形月耕).
Subject: Fishing, Taikōbō (tsuri, Taikōbō, 釣、太公望).
Series: Gekkō zuihitsu (月耕随筆).
Number: 45/47.
Genre: musha-e (武者絵).
Size: large (ōban, 大判) 35,3cm x 24,4cm (13,89 x 9,56 inches).
Publisher: Matsuki Eikichi (松木平吉).
Period: c. 1887.
Trimmed: no
Backed: no
Code: OGK01004

Condition: general condition are good. Good colours. The image is pretty clear with few but not remarkable stain on the border. Any evident crease. A sign of fixing about 2cm can be noticed on the left border. No trimming nor backing. The left cartouche which used to be bright red is oxidized, a sign pretty common among the earlier issued prints.

Taikōbō, also known which a plethora of different names among which the most notorious one is Jiang Ziya, was a Chinese noble mostly remembered for having supported the kings Wei and Wu of the Zhou dinasty on fighting and overthrowing the Shang dinasty's last ruler, King Zhou, who was a tyrant.
He had previously served the Shang dinasty for almost twenty years but being the last King an unbearable tyrant he chose to leave the kingdom.
He disappeared for decades leaving no traces, but in his early seventies he was eventually found and recruited by the King Wen of Zhou, when this one was having an hunting trip.
It is told that he spent most of his exile fishing alone in a branch of the Wei River near today's Xi'An, waiting for someone asking his help for overthrowing the tyrant.