History of the Eight Dogs of Satomi

(Satomi Hakkenden, 里見八犬傳)

Publisher: Mikawa-ya Tetsugorô (San-Katsu)

c. 1850-1852

This series of prints is based upon the novel Nansô Satomi Hakkenden (The Biography of Nansô Satomi and the Eight Dog Warriors) written by Takizawa Bakin (1767-1848). By a rather complicated set of circumstances, Fusehime, the daughter of Lord Anzai of the Satomi Clan, gives birth to eight great warriors, all fathered by a dog. Each of the eight heroes represents a different Confucian virtue, and each has the kanji for dog (犬) as part of his name.

The majority of the novel’s 181 chapters relate their swashbuckling adventures. This series is not listed in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982), but it is listed in the book’s privately published supplement as S66a. It is also listed as number 47 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The individual prints are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban. Some of the prints may be placed side-by-side to form diptychs.

Hero: Sugikura Kiso-no-suke Ujimoto (杉倉木曽介氏元) as an old man dressed in a straw raincoat and hat crouching on the shore with a dragon appearing over the waves above him Robinson: S66a.2

Hero: Satomi Jibu-no-dayû Yoshizane (里見治部犬輔義實), father of Fuse-hime (mother of the Eight Dogs) on the sea-shore wearing a straw raincoat over armor and raising his straw hat Robinson: S66a.1

Hero: Inuzaka Keno Tanetomo (犬坂毛野胤智) holding the rudder of a small boat with rushes in the foreground Robinson: S66a.4

Hero: Inuda Kobungo Yasuyori (犬田小文吾忬順) on the shore, wiping his sword with one foot on a fallen foe Robinson: S66a.3

Hero: Inumura Daihaku Masanori (犬村大角禮儀) in a forceful dispute with his faithful wife Setsune Hinaginu (節婦雛衣) with the moon shining through a barred window behind them

Robinson: S66a.5

Hero: Inuyama Dôsetsu Tadatomo (犬山道節忠興) kneeling on Sadamasa with his sword at the latter’s throat

Robinson: S66a.6

Hero: Inuye Shimbei Masashi (犬江親兵衛仁) wielding an uprooted tree trunk against two cowering assailants

Robinson: S66a.7

Hero: Inukawa Shôsuke (犬川荘助) with a drawn sword seeking cover from a hail of domestic utensils behind a wooden pillar

Robinson: S66a.8

Hero: Inukai Kempachi (犬飼見八) confronting Inuzuka Shino on the Hôryukaku roof with the gable-end rising between them Robinson: S66a.10

Hero: Inuzuka Shino (犬塚 信乃) confronting Inukai Kempachi on the Hôryukaku roof with the gable-end rising between them Robinson: S66a.9

“Robinson” refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its privately published supplement.

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