A collection

Warriors

In the late 1820s a young Kuniyoshi took a Chinese novel of one hundred and eight outlaws and turned it into a sensation. The Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (c.1827–30) are all violence and ornament — bandit-saints wrestling beams, fighting underwater, wearing legends on their skin. The series invented the heroic full-figure print, fed Edo’s tattoo culture (which took these very designs as patterns), and made Kuniyoshi’s name. They are the loudest prints in the house, and they know it.

One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Rōshi EnseiUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30 · from $69.00One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Tanmeijirō GenshōgoUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Kaoshō RochishinUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Kokusenpū RikiUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30Tsukioka YoshitoshiFujiwara no Yasumasa Plays the Flute by MoonlightTsukioka Yoshitoshi · 1883