Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Ma Lin (Tettekisen Barin - 鉄笛仙馬麟) from the series One of the 108 Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori - 通俗水滸傳濠傑百八人一個)
ca 1827 – 1830
9.625 in x 14 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Publisher Kagaya Kichiemon
(Marks 195 - seal 22-025)
Censor's seal: kiwame
British Museum
Tokyo National Museum
Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art
Royal Museums of Art and History, Belgium (via Cultural Japan)
Art Institute of Chicago This print is number 30 in Klompmakers' book Of Brigands and Bravery. She writes on page 108: "In this composition Barin is fighting with an enormous monkey and balances a deer high above him as if he is about to hurl it at the monkey's head. This scene takes place in chapter 52 when the enemy general Kōren has conjured up an array of wolves, tigers, strange animals and poisonous reptiles to defeat the Ryōsanpaku heroes..."
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"Dismount, you rebellious brigands, and let yourselves be bound," Gao shouted back. "I don't want to have to soil my hands with your blood!"
He waved his sword, whispered a few word [sic] under his breath, then yelled "Speed!"
A dark miasma appeared, and was driven by a strange wind towards Song Jiang and his forces. Before it could reach them, Song muttered an incantation and twisted the fingers of his left hand into a cabalistic sign. With his right hand he pointed his sword.
"Speed!" he shouted.
The wind reversed itself and blew back towards Gao's position. Song Jiang was about to order his men to charge. Gao quickly raised his bronze shield and beat on it with his sword. His miracle soldiers were at once concealed in a swirling cloud of yellow sand. From his army hordes of monstrous animals and poisonous serpents poured forth."
Quoted from: Outlaws of the Marsh by Shi Nai'an and Luo Guanzhong, vol. II, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing, 1993, Chapter 52, page 847. Translated by Sidney Shapiro.
The use of bold type is our own. We highlighted it because there are a number of cases of this 'cabalistic sign' being used in Japanese prints of sorcerers and wizards in the Lyon Collection.
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Illustrated in color and quoted from: Of Brigands and Bravery: Kuniyoshi's Heroes of the Suikoden by Inge Klompmakers, Hotei Publishing, 1998, p. 108.
Kagaya Kichiemon (加賀屋吉右衛門) (publisher)
Suikoden (水滸傳) (genre)
magicians (mahōtsukai - 魔法使い) (genre)