Ehon suikoden 絵本水滸伝

FSC-GR-780.241

Commentary by Ann Yonemura

Posted November 2014

Beginning in the early 1800s, Hokusai established a strong reputation as an illustrator of novels and historical fiction through collaborations with renowned contemporary authors. His vivid double-page illustrations for Shinpen Suiko gaden—a new translation and adaptation of the Chinese work Shuihuzhuan (Japanese: Suikoden; English: The water margin) by the renowned Japanese fiction author Kyokutei Bakin (1767–1848)—created a sensational demand for the serial publication that continued after Bakin was replaced by Takai Ranzan (1762–1839). Seventy volumes were published periodically between 1805 and 1828. The tales of Shuihuzhuan recount the adventures of Song Jiang and his 108 followers, who lived at the edge of a river at Mount Liang and opposed the corrupt officials of the Song dynasty.

Shinpen Suiko gaden was followed immediately by this single volume primarily of illustrations with a preface by Hokusai. Ehon suikoden is devoted mainly to illustrations of the Chinese heroes of Suikoden, each one named in Chinese characters with Japanese phonetic transliterations. The book opens with an illustration of Mount Liang, followed by two illustrations of a male and female deity, and ends with an illustration of Shi Naian, the purported author of Shuihuzhuan. [1]

Hokusai’s vivid portraits of Chinese outlaw-heroes in action and his earlier illustrations for Shinpen Suiko gaden established a style of dense compositions. His tight but energetic figure drawings influenced designers of full-color single-sheet warrior prints, such as Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798–1861).

Selected reading:

Jack Hillier, The Art of Hokusai in Book Illustration (London: Sotheby Parke-Bernet Publications; Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980), pp. 80–82.

Jack Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book, vol. 1 (New York: Sotheby’s Publication, 1987), p. 886.

Toda Kenji, Descriptive Catalogue of Japanese and Chinese Illustrated Books in the Ryerson Library of the Art Institute of Chicago (1931; repr., Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2005), pp. 247–49.

Copies in other collections:

Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson Collection

National Institute of Japanese Literature

New York Public Library

[1] A complete list of illustrations with Chinese and Japanese transliterations was published in Toda Kenji 1931, pp. 247–49.