Artist: Totoya Hokkei 魚屋北渓 (1780–1850), pupil of Katsushika Hokusai Book: Kyōka Suikoden gazōshū 狂歌水滸伝画像集 (Album of Suikoden Portraits with Kyōka Poems) Subject: Two heroes of the Water Margin: Left page: Shinkō Taihō Taisō 神行大保戴宗 (Dai Zong, the "Magic Traveller") Right page: Kinpyōshi Yōrin 錦豹子楊林 (Yang Lin, the "Embroidered Leopard") Poems: One kyōka on each page, provisional readings: Right page: on the theme 扇 (fan), by Utawa 歌和 Left page: on the theme 撞, by Haruo 春雄 of Ōta in Mino (美濃大田) Format: Double-page spread, two book pages joined, approx. 22 × 30 cm Technique: Woodblock printed book illustration, ink and colour on paper Date: 1829 (Bunsei 12) ________________________________________________________ CONDITION Good colours and impression; the paper has some white areas in the centre with some soiling along the margins. Fair condition overall! Please check the images! ------------------------------------------------------- About the print This double page comes from Totoya Hokkei's Kyōka Suikoden gazōshū of 1829. In this album, each hero of the Chinese novel Shuihu zhuan (The Water Margin, Suikoden in Japanese) is paired with a kyōka, a witty comic poem written by a member of an Edo poetry circle. The poems are on everyday themes and do not refer to the novel itself. The book appeared two years after Kuniyoshi's first Suikoden series made the 108 outlaws of Liangshan Marsh a craze in Edo. Hokkei was one of Hokusai's most accomplished pupils and was best known for his finely printed surimono made for the same kyōka circles. His clean, detailed drawing reflects that background. The two heroes on this spread belong together in the story. Dai Zong was known as the "Magic Traveller" because charms tied to his legs let him walk hundreds of miles in a day. While travelling on a mission for the outlaws, he met Yang Lin and brought him to join the band at Liangshan.