Tea Bowl (chawan) Decorated with a Scene from a Kabuki Play

The exterior of this tea bowl (chawan) is decorated with a scene from the famous Kabuki play Chushingura, about samurai loyalty. This particular scene takes place at a tea house in Kyoto, where the hero Oishi Kuranosuke, the leader of the forty-seven rōnin (samurai without a master), pretends to indulge in debauchery in order to deceive his enemies while secretly plotting the revenge of his late master.