I meant to comment on this before... I love the circular patterns that appear throughout this print, from the water in the well to the designs on the kimono to the curve of the sword. Even though the print itself is still, all those circles make it spin and swirl.

I am beginning to research this print for an upper division art history course at CSU Chico. Fortunately, we have two (almost certainly originals) prints. Interestingly, one of the prints has what appears to be gold flecks upon the shinguards, wristguards, neck armor, and another spot near the stomach. The curator of the Janet Turner Print Museum at Chico State believes this to be carefully applied micah, although she said she'd never seen micah used in this manner on an ukiyo-e print. The heavy black ink of the outer coat-like garment is cracking on both prints.

> flecks upon the shinguards, wristguards ...

That would kind of make me think that what you might be looking at there is a Meiji reproduction/forgery; it was very common during that era to make excellent copies of the old prints, and there was still a lot of old paper around ... Hard to say more without seeing it close-up ...

The copy I worked from to make my reproduction is a Meiji-era copy (perhaps Taisho), and shows scattered bright coloured flecks here and there. I don't think these are mica, but are an indication that the paper was perhaps strongly sized before printing. The size breaks down and softens over the years, but frequently leaves behind these flecks in the paper ... they are actually small hard glue fragments.

>The heavy black ink of the outer coat-like garment is cracking on both prints.

This is black lacquer ... and usually ends up cracked and broken ... very attractive!

The research paper that I wrote concerning the original print can be found here: http://ccampbell11.deviantart.com/