One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)
Kaoshō Rochishin
花和尚魯智深 · Kaoshō Rochishin
Utagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30
What it is
The renegade monk Kaoshō Rochishin — the “Flower Priest,” named for the blossoms tattooed across his body — swings his iron staff in the drunken fury that wrecked his own monastery.
Why it matters
A monk who drinks, brawls, and is somehow holier than his abbots: the novel’s most beloved outlaw, and Kuniyoshi plays the sacrilege at full volume.
What to notice
The “flowers” of his name are printed across the muscle doing the destroying — sanctity and violence carved into a single body.
A holy man is not always a gentle one.
The record
- Artist
- Utagawa Kuniyoshi 歌川国芳 (1798–1861)
- Series
- One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)
- Date
- c. 1827–30
- Publisher
- Kagaya Kichiemon
- Medium
- woodblock print; ink and color on paper
- Source
- The Art Institute of Chicago · 1975.489
Impression note. Early impressions keep the tattoo’s blossom colors distinct from the flesh tone beneath; in worn later printings the two blur, and the keyblock’s fine interior lines begin to break. Impression variance is real — printings differ in wiping and fading — and choosing the finest openly held impression is the curatorial act.
Public domain; faithfully reproduced.
Bring it home
Printed to order on EMA matte art paper, 200gsm.
From the same series
One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Rōshi EnseiUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30 · from $69.00
One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Tanmeijirō GenshōgoUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30
One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Kokusenpū RikiUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30
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