Shunbaisai Hokuei (春梅斎北英) (artist )
Three heroes of the Water Margin capture the bandit queen Ichijōsei (108 Heroes of the Theatre Suikoden - Shibai Suikoden Hykuhachinin no uchi - 戯場水滸伝百八人之内) - a mitate tetraptych
ca 1835
39 in x 14.25 in (Overall dimensions) Signed: Shunbaisai Hokuei ga
春梅斎北英画
Publisher: Kinkadō Konishi (Marks 242)
Artist's seal: Koshiji no ume and Fumoto no ume (trimmed at bottom)
Carvers: Kumazō & Yashichi
Printers: Toyosaburō & Tetsugorō
Metropolitan Museum of Art - the full composition
Lyon Collection (2nd panel)
Japan Arts Council
Hankyu Culture Foundation - right panel
Hankyu Culture Foundation - 2nd from left
Hankyu Culture Foundation - 2nd from right
Hankyu Culture Foundation - left panel
Adachi Museum of Art
Royal Museums of Art and History, Belgium (via Cultural Japan) - second from left only
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Bibliothèque nationale de France - #38 in an album
Victoria and Albert Museum What really happens in this imaginary scene
John Fiorillo wrote: "Hokuei's design features the confrontation between Kosanjō and three gang members shortly before she is captured. The "Pure One," as she was nicknamed, had already taken Waikyakuko Ōei prisoner and fought two others to a draw. She is finally subdued only when Hyōshitō Rinchū (C: Lin Chong) exploits a weakness in her attack, using his spear to fend off blows from her two swords and then quickly seizing her arms, allowing other brigands enough time to tie her up."
"The setting in this work is fascinating, with menacing clouds and introducing an otherworldly aspect to the Chinese-inspired landscape, in part derived from Hokusai, which also shows Western influence. The robes are in a "foreign" style intended to evoke the exoticism of the subject."
"One by product of the prevailing Suikoden frenzy was the popularity of increasingly elaborate tattoo designs, fueled by the characters in Kuniyoshi's series. This in turn influenced the style of tattoos found on the streets and theaters of Edo and Osaka. Two of the figures in Hokuei's tetraptych sport tattoos to rival those encountered in prints by other artists."
"Providing the rebel Rōrihakuchō with a tattoo was a departure from the original story in which his body was famously white as snow. This may also be the first instance in which an Osaka print illustrated legs tattooed down to ankles... In this sense, it does beyond Kuniyoshi's earlier portrayal of Rōrihakuchō, an Edo design showing a tattoo covering the shins."
****
This composition is said to be a mitate because it comes from a staging that never took place. Dean J. Schwaab in Osaka Prints on page 172 declared this definitively and even raised questions about the dating of this piece. "Because this is a mitate, or imaginary performance, the dating can only be approximate. However, the presence of both Rikan and Utaemon in the same composition suggest that this should be grouped close to the last collaborative performances given, by these two actors in late 1835. In the ninth and tenth months, Rikan, Utaemon, and Tomijuro did actually perform together, and the performance during the tenth month involved a competition with Nakamura Shikan II. Since the titles do not give the actors' full names, but merely their literary forenames, it is difficult to be sure whether this composition definitely preceded the changes of name that would occur in the final month of the year... but it is likely that it did, since these actors did not perform together afterwards."
****
The figures from right to left are:
1. Nakamura Shikan II ( 2代目中村 芝翫) as Kyūmonryū Shishin or Nine Dragons (九紋龍吏進 - Shi Jin in Chinese) - "...a. powerful warrior whose exploits in defeating and then befriending a leader of a small band of thieves earns him an invitation to join the Ryōsanpaku gang."
2. Nakamura Utaemon III (3代目中村歌右衛門) as Nyūunryū Kōsonshō or Dragon in the Clouds (入雲龍公孫勝 - Gongsun Sheng in Chinese) - "...a Daoist priest and sorcerer whose magical powers, especially the conjuring of whirlwinds and clouds, ensures many victories for the outlaw gang."
3. Keishi (慶子), aka, Nakamura Tomijūrō II (2代目中村富十郎), as Kosanjō Ichijōsei, the "...Ten Foot Green Snake: Pure One" (扈三娘一丈青 - Hu San in Chinese) - "...one of the few female heroes in the saga, skilled in two-sword fighting technique (although she uses only one sword here), and feared for slaying numerous adversaries on the battlefield. Allying herself with the Shū clan against the Ryōsanpaku brigands, she fights valiantly but is captured and eventually weds a gang member she had earlier taken prisoner..."
4. Arashi Rikan II (2代目嵐璃寛) as Rōrihakuchō Chōjun or White Stripe in the Waves (浪裡白跳張順 - Zhang Shun in Chinese) - a fish-market owner who had been extorring money from passengers on his brother's ferry. Possessing great strength and the ability to swim and remain underwater "for seven days and nights without difficulty," he joins the gang after winning a fight with, and then befriending, one of their more ill-tempered members. Later he is killed during an assault against adversaries of the Ryōsanpaku rebels at a water gate near Kōshū Castle."
[The information in the above section was revised, corrected and expanded upon based on material provided by John Fiorillo in his new volume, Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints, on page 126.]
****
Cory Sherman North wrote: "This acclaimed masterpiece of Osaka printmaking with its detailed landscape setting provides a grand panoramic of the kabuki play, Shibai Suikoden Hyakuhachinin no uchi (108 Heroes of the Theatre Suikoden), performed in the 11th month of 1835 in Osaka. The four-panel composition features the actor Arashi Rikan II (1788-1837) as the tattooed Rorihakuto Chōjun on left, and Nakamura Utaemon III (1778-1838) second from the right as Ju-unryū Kosonsho. The hero, Kumonryū Shishi, on the right is likely the actor Nakamura Shikan II (1798-1852), Utaemon III’s protégé who later became Utaemon IV. Tales of the Chinese legendary “Suikoden” (water margin) outlaws and their adventures were easily adapted to exciting dramas for the kabuki stage. In this color woodcut set Hokuei captured a particular performance, but other print artists, such as Kuniyoshi, simply illustrated the well-known stories from their own imaginations.
The artist Hokuei was a pupil of Hokushū (also in this exhibition), whose portrait style greatly influenced Hokuei’s in characteristic bulging eyes and large ovoid jaws. Hokuei was a pioneer in applying luxury surimono effects to actor portrait woodcuts, such as precious metals and deep embossing. This deluxe set, which is rarely found complete, required no less than three master carvers and two printers to accomplish. Hokuei is known to have designed more than 250 compositions including some recognized as the most technically complex ukiyo-e prints ever produced."
****
Past all belief
Jan van Doesburg wrote in Andon 36 from March, 1991:
"[Hokuei's] merits are in the field of integrating the eminent technical skill into the theatrical prints of the I 830s, as is convincingly illustrated in his famous tetraptych Shibai Suikoden Hyakuhachinin no uchi, published in the late autumn of 1835. The four sheets were printed by Toyosaburō and Tetsugorō, while the blocks were carved by Kumazō and Yashichi. Both printing and carving has been done with a skill and precision that is past all belief. When you get the opportunity you really should have a close look at impressions of prints like these, since even with the best of our present-day, advanced printing techniques it is impossible to reproduce the aura of the original impressions' overwhelming textures."
****
Who was the real Rōrihakuchō Chōjun, the fictional character?
In 'Kuniyoshi's tattooed heroes of the Suikoden. Righteous rebels from China in Japanese prints' by Inge Klompmakers in Andon 87, December, 2009, on page 88 it says in a translation of the text on a print of Rōrihakuchō Chōjun:
He is exceptionally brave, has a body white as snow and is easily capable of floating in the river for forty or fifty ri (one ri is about 3.8 km). Furthermore, he is able to stay under water for seven days and nights without difficulty'.'Klompmakers added that 'His nickname was White Leaper in the Waves'.
The far left panel of this composition could, in isolation, be counted not only among the finest Japanese prints ever created, but among the finest works of art in Japan or anywhere else. The delicacy of the carving combined with the elegance of the design screams 'Masterpiece'. However, it is instructive to look at this print more closely with an emphasis not only of the tattooed body, but also its surroundings.
If you look at the jpeg of the Kuniyoshi that we have added to this page you will see all kinds of similarities between the two images. Kuniyoshi's print dates from between 1827-1830 and the Hokuei from 1835. At first they might not seem to be terribly similar, but look more closely at the tattoos. In both the main features are a fire-breathing snake, the needles of a pine tree and red ivy leaves. While Kuniyoshi's figure of Rōrihakuchō Chōjun has a waterfall and Hokuei's does not, in the latter our hero is wringing out a wet cloth that gives and approximation of a waterfall and besides there is a real one in the background cascading out of a rocky mountainside. Clearly Hokuei knew Kuniyoshi's print intimately.
Some background material on Kyūmonryū Shishin, the man on the far right
Inge Klompmakers wrote on page 66:
Kyūmonryū Shishin, nicknamed'The Nine-dragonned', was the son of a wealthy landowner. Unfortunately, after his father's death he spent more time on military affairs than on cultivating the lands he had inherited. One day he was challenged to a fight by Chōkanko Chintatsu, the leader of three robbers. They struggled together for a long time, but in the end the 'Nine-dragonned' was victorious and Chintatsu was taken into custody. When the other gang members came to plea for his release, Shishin was moved by their loyalty. The five became lifelong friends and joined the Suikoden.You might have noticed that this fellow's name is sometimes spelled 'Kumonryū Shishin' and at other times as 'Kyūmonryū Shishin'. Both are acceptable as translations of the kanji characters used for his name.
****
Illustrated:
1) in color Ikeda Bunko, Kamigata yakusha-e shūsei (Collected Kamigata Actor Prints), vol. 2, Osaka, 1998, No. 341.
2) In color in Masterpieces of Japanese Prints: The European Collections - Ukiyo-e from the Victoria and Albert Museum II, Kodansha International, 1991, pp. 130-31.
3) in colot in 原色浮世絵大百科事典 (Genshoku Ukiyoe Daihyakka Jiten), vol. 9, pp. 124-125, #289.
4) In a two page color fold-out in The Theatrical World of Osaka Prints by Roger Keyes and Keiko Mizushima, Philadelphia Museum of Art, text on page 146, 1973.
5) In color in Ukiyo-e to Shin hanga: The Art of Japanese Woodblock Prints, Mallard Press, 1990, p. 182.
6) In color in Ukiyo-e Masterpieces in European Collection 5: Victoria and Albert Museum II, Kodansha, 1989, #153.
7) In a large color reproduction over two page in Japanese Prints by Catherine David, 2010, Éditions Place des Victoires, p. 294-95.
8) In a color reproduction in Ukiyo-e to Horimono: the history and art of Japanese Prints and Tattooing by Jan van Doesburg, 2013, fig. 028, pp. 120-121.
9) the left-hand panel in a detail shot in 'Osaka tattoos' by Jan van Doesburg in Andon 72 &73, October, 2002, fig. 7, p. 109. Van Doesburg wrote on page 109: "In the remaining years of the 1830s, six tattoo prints are known. The most striking of these is Hokuei's magnificent ōban tetraptych with four actors representing Suikoden heroes. It probably dates from around 11 / 1835 and is not linked to an actual performance, but is a type of mitate-e (analogy picture). The tattoos aPPear on the actors shown on the outer panels. The tattoo on the left panel... is the most interesting, as it covers almost the entire body of Rōrihakuchō Chōjun, who is represented by the actor Arashi Rikan II. Until now this type of tattoo, with the legs decorated down to the ankles, had not yet been the subject of an Osaka print."
10) in a black and white reproduction in Ukiyo-e: Japanische Farbholzschnitte des 19. Jahrhunderts, Schenkung Dr. Hans Lühdorf. Bilder einer fließenden vergänglichen Welt., Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf im Ehrenhof, 1990, #373, page 197. Only the far right panel is shown.
11) in color in Osaka Prints by Dean Schwaab, Rizzoli, 1989, #171, pages 172-173.
12) in color in Hokuei: Master of Osaka Kabuki Prints by John Fiorillo, Ludion, 2024, cat. 224, pages 124-125. And in a small color reproduction on page 197 with additional information. For example: the artist's seals on these prints is given as Fumoto no mume (ふもとのむめ) and Koshiji no mume (こしじのむめ). This is a somewhat curious reading of these seals, because it is so close to the other way to read them as koshiji no ume and Fumoto no ume. Ume means 'plum' (梅 or うめ) and mume (むめ) can mean 'essence or scent of plum wine'. Fiorillo who has had a long standing partnership in a wonderful website, Osakaprints.com, where they sold a copy of this tetraptych and gave the readings of the seals as koshiji no ume and fumoto no ume, which is the same as Roger Keyes readings in his Philadelphia catalog.
However, Fiorillo address the issue of 'ume' versus 'mume' cogently and in a truly scholarly manner on page 122: "Hokuei introduced two new seals, each incorporating puns on his names. They were never used again. One reads "Plum on the Road to the North" (Koshiji no mume), with [m]ume (梅) also read as bai, thus echoing the name "Shunbaisai." Moreover, Koshiji is the former name for the Hokurikudō, or "Road to the Northern Provinces," a pun on the character "hoku" (北) in "Hokuei." The other artist seal reads "Plum on the Foothills" (Fumoto no mume), likely derived from a seal used by his teacher Shunkōsai Hokushū, "Yoshinoyama" (よしのやま), "Mount Yoshino"), which was created in 1818 and modeled after Katsushika Hokusai's "Fujinoyama" (ふじのやま, "Mount Fuji") seal."
****
There is another copy of this composition in the Adachi Ward Museum (足立 区立郷土博物館所蔵), Tokyo.
Kyōto-Osaka prints (kamigata-e - 上方絵) (genre)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Kinkadō Konishi (金花堂小西) (publisher)
actor prints (yakusha-e - 役者絵) (genre)
Suikoden (水滸傳) (genre)
Arashi Rikan II (二代目嵐璃寛: 9/1828 - 6/1837) (actor)
Tattoo (genre)
Nakamura Tomijūrō II (二代目中村富十郎: 1/1833 to 2/1855) (actor)
landscape prints (fūkeiga 風景画) (genre)
Nakamura Shikan II (二代目中村芝翫: 11/1825 - 12/1835) (actor)
Nakamura Utaemon III (三代目中村歌右衛門) (actor)
mitate-e (見立て絵) (genre)