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).
Publications online: 20 objects
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Hekirekika Shinmei (Qin Ming)
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Literature notes
Suikoden chapter 34
Qin Ming was a commander of all the imperial forces around the town of Qingzhou known, on account of his temper and of his loud voice as the ‘Thunderbolt’. His favourite weapon was a ‘wolf-toothed’ mace (ryōgabō). By an involved series of ruses and appalling treachery, he was induced to join the rebels. In this print he stands holding the ‘wolf-toothed’ mace, beside the castle wall, being mistaken for a brigand.
This is not a preparatory sketch for a print, that sent to the blockmaker, a shita-e, for these were extremely sketchy, and the block-cutter had a very considerable input to the final design, controlling all the details. This is a worked-up drawing; possibly by Kuniyoshi with assistants, perhaps as a demonstration for a publisher or possible patron. Nine similar paintings of other heroes are known, all in the National Museum for Ethnology, Leiden. -
Details
- Series
- One of the 108 Heroes of the Popular Water Margin
- Associated place
- Date
- 1827 - 1830
- Artist/maker
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attributed to Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861) (artist)
- Material and technique
- Nishiki-e, woodblock print, ink and colour on paper
- Dimensions
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mount 55.3 x 40.2 cm (height x width)
painting 37.5 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.
- EA1971.45
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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. 1 on p. 9, p. 6, illus. p. 13 pl. 1
Katz, Janice, Japanese Paintings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, with an introductory essay by Oliver Impey (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2003), cat. supp. no. 79 on p. 227, p. 15, illus. p. 227 fig. 79
Location
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- 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
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Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of China and Japan
Suikoden chapter 34
Qin Ming was a commander of all the imperial forces around the town of Qingzhou known, on account of his temper and of his loud voice as the ‘Thunderbolt’. His favourite weapon was a ‘wolf-toothed’ mace (ryōgabō). By an involved series of ruses and appalling treachery, he was induced to join the rebels. In this print he stands holding the ‘wolf-toothed’ mace, beside the castle wall, being mistaken for a brigand.
This is not a preparatory sketch for a print, that sent to the blockmaker, a shita-e, for these were extremely sketchy, and the block-cutter had a very considerable input to the final design, controlling all the details. This is a worked-up drawing; possibly by Kuniyoshi with assistants, perhaps as a demonstration for a publisher or possible patron. Nine similar paintings of other heroes are known, all in the National Museum for Ethnology, Leiden.
Notice
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