Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) (artist 11/15/1797 – 03/05/1861)
Gyokukirin Roshungi (Lu Junyi, the Jade Unicorn - 玉麒麟盧俊義) from the series The Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (Tsūzoku Suikoden gōketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori - 通俗水滸伝豪傑百八人之一個) - center panel of a triptych
ca 1827 – 1830
9.5 in x 14.25 in (Overall dimensions) Japanese color woodblock print
Signed: Ichiyūsai Kuniyoshi ga
一勇斎国芳画
Publisher: Kagaya Kichiemon
(Marks 195 - seal 22-025)
Censor's seal: kiwame
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
British Museum
Tokyo National Museum
Royal Museums of Art and History, Belgium (via Cultural Japan)
Art Institute of Chicago
Lyon Collection - right-hand panel of this triptych
Lyon Collection - left-hand panel of this triptych
Yale University Art Gallery We first hear of Lu Junyi at the end of Chapter 60 or the Outlaws of the Marsh (p. 976). Song Jiang had stopped to pray for the easy entry into heaven of Chao Gai. Song asked a Buddhist priest if he knew of any of note in the Northern Capital. The priest said: "Surely you have heard of the Jade Unicorn of Heibei?" This jogged Song's memory. "There is a rich man in the Northern Capital called Lu Junyi. His nickname is the Jade Unicorn. He is one of the Three Remarkable Men of Heibei Province. He lives in the capital city and is highly skilled in the martial arts. With cudgel and staff he has no equal. If we could get him to join our stronghold, we'd need have no fear of any government troops or police sent to catch us."
How could Song, a man known as the Wizard, convince such a wealthy accomplished man to join them and become an outlaw? But succeed he did. "...Lu Junyi cast aside embroidered banners and beaded drapes and entered instead the dragon's pool and tiger's den. Truly, to bring one man into the Marsh, warfare was inflicted on the entire population." That story is told in Chapter 61.
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Illustrated
1) in black and white as part of a triptych in Ukiyoe ni egakareta Chūgoku ten (浮世絵 に 描かれた 中国 展), Ukiyoe Ōta Bijutsukan, 1982, cat. #67, n.p.
2) in a full-page in a color reproduction in Of Brigands and Bravery: Kuniyoshi's Heroes of the Suikoden by Inge Klompmakers, Hotei Publishing, 1998, #39b, p. 129. This print is the center panel of a three-sheet composition. The author wrote on page 126: "Gyokukirin Roshungi is a very wealthy man and a skilled warrior from Peking. In that Roshungi is unrivalled in wielding the club and the staff, Kohōgi Sōkō wants to enlist him as a leader of the Ryōsanpaku forces. Following a cunning plan by Chitasei Goyō, the Ryōsanpaku heroes try to persuade Roshungi in chapter 60 to join their ranks. Before this happens, however, a number of events occur. Chitasei Goyō, pretending to be a fortune-teller, tells Roshungi that something evil is going to happen and that he best escape. The rich thanks Goyō for his advice and proceeds to leave his home and family. Shortly thereafter he becomes embroiled in a fight with Kaoshō Rochishin..., then with Gyōja Bushō... and finally with three men at once: Sekihakki Ryūtō, Hakutenchō Rio and Bossharan Bokukō."
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Lu Junyi's outfit
Lu Junyi, the Jade Unicorn, is wearing an outfit decorated with fantastic creatures. The most prominent one is worn near his midsection. It is somewhat like a lion with a single eye in the middle of its forehead, a single horn coming out of the top of his forehead, while on its back are three more eyes seen just below three more horns. Add to all of this the fantastic red flames coming from its body. However, it is the single horn on the forehead that draws the closest connection to the name and character of this warrior: it is a unicorn or kirin (麒麟) which also forms part of the nickname of this Suikoden figure. Note that Kirin is also the name of a popular Japanese brand of beer.
There are other phantasmagorical figures on his clothes, but mostly populated in the lower part by green, red-haired figures with a wicked overbite. They look somewhat like kappa (河童), but lack the bald indentation on the top of his head that usually holds water that gives them phenomenal powers. Or are they shōjō (猩々), the red-mopped creatures that have a particular fondness for saké or any other alcoholic beverage. In fact a shōjō is another Japanese term for a sot or heavy drinker.
Kagaya Kichiemon (加賀屋吉右衛門) (publisher)
warrior prints (musha-e - 武者絵) (genre)
Suikoden (水滸傳) (genre)