Prints of Shôki the demon queller

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.

	Publisher: Fujioka-ya Hikotarô Date: 1843-1846 (censor Muramatsu Genroku) I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.
	I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this alternate state of the above design.
	Publisher: Kikuhei Date: 1846-1848 (censors Muramatsu and Yoshimura)
	Publisher: Ebisu-ya Shôshichi Date: 1849-1852 (censors Hama and Magome)
	Another state of the above design
	Key block print for the above design
	Publisher: Tsujioka-ya Bunsuke Date: 3^rd month of 1854 NOTE: This print is signed Ichiyûsai Ikusa Kuniyoshi (一勇斎井草國芳). Under the signature is a stamp with “Kuniyoshi” written in seal script. I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this image.
	Another state of the above design without Kuniyoshi’s personal seal
	Publisher: Jôshû-ya Kinzô Date: c. 1837 I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this aka-e (赤絵, red print) which was said to protect from smallpox. It was probably printed during the 1837 smallpox epidemic.
	I am grateful to Robert Pryor for this drawing of Shôki, a kayari buta (mosquito smoker), and flowers with tests of Kuniyoshi’s seals.

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