Prints of Shôki the demon queller
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Shôki the demon queller (Zhong Kui in Chinese) was a favorite subject of Kuniyoshi’s. Kuniyoshi reportedly made a picture of Shôki at the age of 12 which impressed Toyokuni I so much that he accepted Kuniyoshi as one of his pupils. Shôki is supposed to have vowed to rid the Chinese empire of demons and was adopted into folk Japanese mythology as early as the Kamakura period (1185-1392). He is usually shown in a flowing gray robe with a Chinese scholar’s hat. These prints are not listed in either Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961) or Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982). The individual sheets are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban. |
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Publisher: Fujioka-ya Hikotarô Date: 1843-1846
(censor Muramatsu Genroku) I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image. |
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I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state of the
above design. |
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Publisher: Kikuhei Date: 1846-1848
(censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura) |
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Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shôshichi Date: 1849-1852
(censors Hama and Magome) |
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Another state of the above design |
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Key block print for the above design |
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Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke Date: 3rd
month of 1854 NOTE: This print is signed Ichiyûsai
Ikusa Kuniyoshi (一勇斎井草國芳). I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this
image. |
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I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this aka-e
(red print) which was said to protect from smallpox. |
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I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this
drawing of Shôki, a kayari
buta (mosquito smoker), and flowers with tests
of Kuniyoshi’s seals. |
