SIGNED KAJIKAWA SAKU, EDO PERIOD (19TH CENTURY)

Choryo, one of the three heroes of the Han Dynasty, is shown beside a bridge, resoling the shoe of a poor old man crossing a bridge over the river Wei on a mule. The old man turned out to be Kosekiko and as a reward he eventually gave Choryo a book (in the form of a handscroll) which, if studied, would enable its reader to become a king's preceptor. The book is said to have been brought from China to Japan, where it was later studied by two of the greatest heroes of Japanese history, Minamoto no Yoshitsume and Kusunoki Masashige.