Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

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Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan

A catalogue of the Ashmolean’s collection of warriors by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861) by Oliver Impey and Mitsuko Watanabe (published Oxford, 2003).

Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan by Oliver Impey and Mitsuko Watanabe

Publications online: 20 objects

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Hakutenchō Riō (Li Ying) and Bossharan Bokukō (Mu Hong)

  • Literature notes

    Suikoden chapter 46


    Hakutenchō Riō was the head of the Dokuryūkōri (Lijia zhuang) township. Riō was an expert with a spear called kontetsutenkōsō, and carried five hitō (throwing knives) hidden away behind his armoured back. He is known to have killed an enemy a hundred yards away by throwing his hitō.


    Bossharan Bokukō, born in Keiyōchin (Jiyang zhen), lived in the household of his father, Bokutaikō, who was very conservative but in contrast to his two sons who were rough and wild. Bokukō, together with the leaders of the Ryōsanpaku tried to enlist Gyokukirin Roshungi, a very wealthy pawnbroker from Peking skilled in the use of spears (tekōyari and bakutō), as the deputy commander of the Ryōsanpaku forces. In pursuit of their scheme, Bokukō, with Hakutenchō Riō and Sekihakki Ryūtō (Liu Tang) fought Roshungi, luring him deep into the mountains, by pretending to run away from him. After much fighting, they eventually persuaded him to join the Ryōsanpaku forces.


    In this print, Riō and Bokukō are challenging Roshungi to fight.
  • Details

    Series
    One of the 108 Heroes of the Popular Water Margin
    Associated place
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of creation)
    AsiaJapanHonshūKantōTōkyō prefecture Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    1827 - 1830
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861) (designer)
    Associated people
    Kagaya Kichibei (active c. 1804 - 1880) (publisher)
    Material and technique
    woodblock
    Dimensions
    mount 55.4 x 40.4 cm (height x width)
    print 38 x 26.1 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by George Grigs, Miss Elizabeth Grigs, and Miss Susan Messer, in memory of Derick Grigs, 1971.
    Accession no.
    EA1971.99
  • Further reading

    Impey, Oliver, and Mitsuko Watanabe, Kuniyoshi's Heroes of China and Japan: A Selection of Warriors from Two Series of Prints and a Painting by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798 - 1861), the Suikoden of 1827 and the Taiheki of 1848-9 (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003), no. 5 on pp. 9-10, illus. p. 17 pl. 5

    London: Royal Academy of Arts, 21 March-7 June 2009, and New York: Japan Society, 12 March-13 June 2012, Kuniyoshi: From the Arthur R. Miller Collection, Timothy Clark. ed. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2009), no. 6, p. 44, illus. p. 44

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan by Oliver Impey and Mitsuko Watanabe

    Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan

    Suikoden chapter 46


    Hakutenchō Riō was the head of the Dokuryūkōri (Lijia zhuang) township. Riō was an expert with a spear called kontetsutenkōsō, and carried five hitō (throwing knives) hidden away behind his armoured back. He is known to have killed an enemy a hundred yards away by throwing his hitō.


    Bossharan Bokukō, born in Keiyōchin (Jiyang zhen), lived in the household of his father, Bokutaikō, who was very conservative but in contrast to his two sons who were rough and wild. Bokukō, together with the leaders of the Ryōsanpaku tried to enlist Gyokukirin Roshungi, a very wealthy pawnbroker from Peking skilled in the use of spears (tekōyari and bakutō), as the deputy commander of the Ryōsanpaku forces. In pursuit of their scheme, Bokukō, with Hakutenchō Riō and Sekihakki Ryūtō (Liu Tang) fought Roshungi, luring him deep into the mountains, by pretending to run away from him. After much fighting, they eventually persuaded him to join the Ryōsanpaku forces.


    In this print, Riō and Bokukō are challenging Roshungi to fight.
Notice

Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

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