Utagawa Kunitsuna (1808-1865)
The legendary Chinese hero K(y)umonryû Shishin (Chinese Shi Jin), with a wild mane of hair and tattooed with dragons all over his body (his name roughly meaning: marked by nine dragons) in a fierce stick fight with his opponent Rochishin (Chinese: Lu Zhishen, not visible here). In the background waves on the shore and a pine tree.
An episode from the famous Chinese bandit novel Shuihu Zhuan (In Japanese Suikoden, also known as "Outlaws of the Marsh” or “Heroes of the Water Margin”).
Title: K(y)umonryû
Series: Mitate Suikoden no uchi (Suikoden-Parodien)
Signature: Kunitsuna ga, in Toshidama cartouche
Publisher: Ôtaya Takichi, Edo
Censorship: Aratame
Date: 8th month 1856
Size: Vertical Ôban, 37 x 25 cm (overall)
Excellent impression and colours. Unbacked, full sheet. Margins partly minimally soiled and creased, at upper left under the branch a small rubbed thinner spot. Overall very nice condition. Very rare print, from a hardly known (diptych?) series, in which each sheet bears the series title, and which therefore can also stand alone (similar to Kuniyoshi's famous Suikoden series, where some sheets can also be combined to form diptychs or even triptychs). So far only prints are known, this one combined with another as a diptych, as well as one other sheet. Series not listed in Marks, Publishers. The artist, a pupil of Toyokuni I, created some very good warrior prints and triptychs, stylistically very close to Kuniyoshi.
sold