Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden

Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 Japanese

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The plot of the fourteenth-century Chinese novel The Water Margin (Shuihu zhuan), known as Suikoden in Japanese, relates the exploits of 108 anti-government outlaws, heroes during an era of political corruption. The group of rebellious heroes were based in a secret hideaway surrounded by marshes—the water margin— as seen in Hokuei’s idealized rendition. This is a completely fabricated theatrical scene, since the four famous actors never performed together on the Osaka stage.

The actors portrayed, from right to left: Nakamura Shikan II as Kumonryū Shishin, or Nine Dragons; Nakamura Utaemon III as Nyūunryū Kō Sonshō, Dragon in the Clouds; Keishi (Nakamura Tomijūrō II) as Ko Sanjō Ichijōsei, the female figure; and Arashi Rikan II as Rōrihakuchō Chōjun, or White Stripe in the Waves.

Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden, Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 (Japanese, active 1829–1837, died 1837), Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan

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Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden, Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 (Japanese, active 1829–1837, died 1837), Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan
Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden, Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 (Japanese, active 1829–1837, died 1837), Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan
Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden, Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 (Japanese, active 1829–1837, died 1837), Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan
Three Heroes of the Water Margin Capture the Bandit Queen Ichijōsei, from the series One Hundred Eight Heroes of the Theater Suikoden, Shunbaisai Hokuei 春梅斎北英 (Japanese, active 1829–1837, died 1837), Tetraptych of woodblock prints (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper; vertical ōban, Japan

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