Kinbaku Tidbit - Questions in the Forest

In this scene a unfortunate shipwrecked Namban (Southern Barbarian) sailor is about to be beaten to see how many of sailors were on his ship. Foreigners at this time were forbidden to land in Japan, except at one port. Shipwrecked sailors were harshly treated and usually executed.

This is set in Japan around the year 1750 AD. The theme of this series of illustrations is generally centered around examples of Kinbaku (Japanese traditional tight rope bondage).