Suikoden Heroes: Yoshitoshi's

The Suikoden was first popularized in Japanese art by Katsushika Hokusai, in a series of illustrated books starting in 1806, and then by Utagawa Kuniyoshi in a set of 74 woodblock prints dating from 1827-1830. The most well-known Suikoden series after Kuniyoshi's remains Biyu Suikoden ("Suikoden Heroes") created in 1866 and 1867 by Kuniyoshi's most important pupil, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. Yoshitoshi's Suikoden Heroes, comprising a set of 50 prints in chuban size, differ considerably in content from those of his teacher; darker in mood, they focus more on bizarre and supernatural elements, with occasional images of bloodshed or death. Furthermore, although he used the Chinese Suikoden as a model, all of the characters in Yoshitoshi's series are Japanese outlaws, sorcerers, and other marginal figures from Japanese legend. Suikoden Heroes is one of Yoshitoshi's most sustained and accomplished works of visual imagination and artistry.