戯場水滸伝百|Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden

Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英

ca. 1835 · Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban · Asian Art

The plot of the fourteenth-century Chinese novel The Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan), known as Suikoden in Japanese, relates the exploits of 108 anti-government outlaws, heroes during an era of political corruption. The group of rebellious heroes were based in a secret hideaway surrounded by marshes—the water margin— as seen in Hokuei’s idealized rendition. This is a completely fabricated theatrical scene, since the four famous actors never performed together on the Osaka stage. The actors portrayed, from right to left: Nakamura Shikan II as Kumonryū Shishin, or Nine Dragons; Nakamura Utaemon III as Nyūunryū Kō Sonshō, Dragon in the Clouds; Keishi (Nakamura Tomijūrō II) as Ko Sanjō Ichijōsei, the female figure; and Arashi Rikan II as Rōrihakuchō Chōjun, or White Stripe in the Waves.

Artist

Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英

Date

ca. 1835

Medium

Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, in honor of James C. Y. Watt, 2011