One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)
Rōshi Ensei
浪子燕青 · Rōshi Ensei
Utagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30
What it is
The wrestler Rōshi Ensei — Yan Qing of the Chinese novel — hoists a massive timber beam overhead, his tattooed body coiled under the load.
Why it matters
This series rescued Kuniyoshi from obscurity and gave Edo a new kind of hero — the tattooed strongman — igniting the fashion for full-body irezumi from which Japanese tattooing still descends.
What to notice
The tattoo is a print within the print: a second design carved into the figure’s skin, its colors registered inside the body’s outline block by block.
The beam is heavy. Look what he carries on his skin.
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
- Wikimedia Commons · Roshi Ensei lifting a heavy beam.jpg
Impression note. The series was reprinted heavily as its fame grew; early impressions show a crisp keyblock and carefully registered tattoo colors, where later printings coarsen and the blues flatten. 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)Tanmeijirō GenshōgoUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1827–30
One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)Kaoshō RochishinUtagawa 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
Utagawa KuniyoshiTakiyasha the Witch and the Skeleton SpectreUtagawa Kuniyoshi · c. 1844The road at your moment — Painted Earth’s ukiyo-e style pack.