• Konkōryū Rishun (混江龍李俊 - Ch. Li Jun) from the series <i>One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Shuihuzhuan All Told</i> (<i>Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori</i> - 通俗水滸傳濠傑百八人一個)
Konkōryū Rishun (混江龍李俊 - Ch. Li Jun) from the series <i>One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Shuihuzhuan All Told</i> (<i>Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori</i> - 通俗水滸傳濠傑百八人一個)
Konkōryū Rishun (混江龍李俊 - Ch. Li Jun) from the series <i>One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Shuihuzhuan All Told</i> (<i>Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori</i> - 通俗水滸傳濠傑百八人一個)

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 01/01/1797 – 04/14/1861)

Konkōryū Rishun (混江龍李俊 - Ch. Li Jun) from the series One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Shuihuzhuan All Told (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori - 通俗水滸傳濠傑百八人一個)

Print


ca 1827 – 1830
10 in x 14.75 in (Overall dimensions) color woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyusai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
British Museum
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg
Ota Memorial Museum of Art
Tokyo National Museum
Kunstpalast Düsseldorf Konkōryū Rishun, half-naked, in the water, upsetting a boat with a foreman inside it. This figure is #35 in Klompmakers book on this series.

Rishun is part of an elaborate plot to help rescue two colleagues from prison. As part of the plan Rishun and two other men swim underwater to overturn an imperial boat transporting a golden bell. Their efforts succeeded.

Use the zooming tool to enlarge this print so you can get a good view of the spectacular tattoo on Rishun's upper torso. It shows Raijin, the thunder god, surrounded by lightening and accompanied by a boar-like, but indeterminate animal.

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This print is illustrated in color in a very small image in Samurai Stars of the Stage and Beautiful Women: Kunisada and Kuniyoshi, Masters of the Color Woodblock Print by Hatje Cantz, Museum Kunstpalast, p. 268, #157.

The author writes: " 'River Dragon' Rishun (Chinese Ki Jun) is the twenty-sixth outlaw of Liang-Shan Marsh. At one time he earned his living as a river pirate before being promoted to commander of the fleet, because it was said that he could do anything in the water.

The tattoo of the god of thunder of Rishun's chest is striking. Most of the 108 heroes of the series are also tattooed from head to toe. After the release of the series, Edo experienced a tattoo boom, many of which were based on Kuniyoshi's motifs."

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The publisher according to the British Museum is Kagaya Kichiemon, but there is no mark here.

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Illustrated in a black and white reproduction in the Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Ukiyo-e Prints (3), #3121.
Kagaya Kichiemon (加賀屋吉右衛門) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Suikoden (水滸傳) (genre)
Tattoo (genre)