Water Margin: the 108 heroes of the Popular Suikoden series-Utagawa Kuniyoshi

by Ukiyoe Channel, Machine translation (Translator)

Water Margin, is a novel attributed to Shi Nai'an 1296-1370. Considered one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People's Republic of China, was not interested in Confucian classics, but this Chinese classical novel is his favorite. When he went to school, the teacher forbade the students to read this book, and he read it secretly, and when the teacher came, he put the books of Confucius on the cover to hide. Mao Zedong said that the book had a great influence on him. Even during the war he often sent soldiers to the wealthy families who had been beaten away to find out if there was an old version of the book. The charm of this book is evident. About the title, the writing way in Simplified Chinese is 水浒传,　the pronunciation in Chinese is Shuihuzhuan. And in Japanese, the writing is水滸傳, the pronunciation is Suikoden. Because of these two differences, it may affect people's inaccurate understanding of the Japanese original paintings the 108 heroes of the Popular Suikoden. And many Chinese artists still don't know the existence of this great painting. I hope that through this book, more people will know and like the Oriental culture. According to the Japanese scholar's research, Water Margin is introduced in the Seventeenth Century in Japan. Since the Ming and Qing Dynasties prohibited the spread of the book Water Margin for fear that the people will be inspired by this novel against the government, many of the early versions have been lost in China, but in Japan has preserved some. It seems to be a Chinese businessman, in order to solve the journey of loneliness, brought the book to Japan (the book handed down from private sources). A Japanese heard the story in the book, and hoping to get it, the Chinese businessman gave the book to him. This is the beginning of the Water Margin was introduced into Japan. The famous Sinologist Okajima Kanzan (1674-1728) in the Edo period is the first Japanese translation of the Water Margin. Utagawa Kuniyoshi began writing the 108 heroes of the Popular Suikoden series from 1827. The characters he painted, full of dynamic, emphasizing the rich color and aesthetic decoration, bring visual stimulation and shock. In ancient Chinese, tattoo had a very popular period, there are a lot of heroes with the nice tattoo in the novel, and it is very similar to Japanese tattoo culture in the Edo period, it is fully described in the 108 heroes of the Popular Suikoden series. This artwork brought Utagawa Kuniyoshi success also led to a boom of Water Margin. Although there are many artists have painted this theme, but Utagawa Kuniyoshi's paintings are the most perfect performance of the heroes' rebellious spirit, as far as I'm concerned. This book including a few versions of single drawing (98images), and 2 versions of the sheet. Some of the characters have more than one paintings. I don't know whether this shows that Utagawa Kuniyoshi was more interested in that character or many versions have not been saved. In this series, Utagawa Kuniyoshi also drew a set of different styles sheet- the Kyoga Suikoden goketsu ippyaku hachinin (Caricatures of the One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden). Making a heavy content lively and joyful. This brings me the bittersweet feeling, perhaps this is the true portrayal of the hero’s life. I am deeply attracted by the paintings. Such a set of excellent artwork, can't be found all, it is very regrettable. If you like the Water Margin, this art series can increase the pleasure of reading. If you like paintings, it will be fun to get more details from the novel to help you understand the content of the painting deeply. After I came to Japan, I learned about this artwork and deeply loved it. But because its version is collected in many different museums, it is inconvenient to search, so I sorted out the pictures and published this book.

Kindle Edition

Published September 4, 2018

Reviews

[Mr D Ashton · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a picture book!

I got this in expectation of being able to read the stories of the Water Margin. HOWEVER. I am VERY disappointed to find this is just a collection of paintings of some of the characters. Pity.

[Pilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting.

Historical events, writting style, drawings, detailed clothing and footwear, art design, time line, and technology of the period are legendary.