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Kojōsō Jisen (Shi Qian)
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Details
- Series
- One of the 108 Heroes of the Popular Water Margin
- Associated place
- Date
- 1827 - 1830
- Artist/maker
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Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861) (designer)
- Associated people
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Kagaya Kichibei (active c. 1804 - 1880) (publisher)
- Material and technique
- woodblock
- Dimensions
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mount 55.4 x 40.4 cm (height x width)
print 36.8 x 25.4 cm (height x width)
- Material index
- Technique index
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- 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.
- EA1971.96
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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. 2 on p. 9, illus. p. 14 pl. 2
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 45
Kojōsō Jisen, who was born in Kōtō-shū Gaolang zhou, was well-known for his sharp eyes, and was skinny with dark skin. He had a remarkable ability of being able to spring from the ground onto the roof of houses and was therefore able to steal things. His nickname Kojōsō derives from a fanciful idea of fleas bouncing on a drum. He was ordered by his commander to learn martial skills from Kinsōshu Jonei (Xu Ning), who was celebrated for his use of spears. In order to do this, Jisen stole the armour of Saitōgei, Jonei’s family treasure, thus successfully luring Jonei to the mountain territories, where he became a commander.
This print illustrates the scene when Jisen has climbed to the top of a cypress tree from where he watches Jonei’s house with a lantern, awaiting the best moment to steal the armour of Saitōgei, under the moonlit sky.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum