Selected Actors as the Eight Heroes of Bakin’s Hakkenden
(Mitate yakusha Hakkenshi, 見立俳優八犬士)
Publisher: Kaga-ya Kichibei
c. 1840
This series of prints is based upon the novel Nansô Satomi Hakkenden (The Biography of Nansô Satomi and the Eight Dog Warriors) written by Takizawa Bakin (1767-1848). By a rather complicated set of circumstances, Fusehime, the daughter of Lord Anzai of the Satomi Clan, gives birth to eight great warriors, each fathered by a dog. The majority of the novel’s 181 chapters relate their swashbuckling adventures. This series is listed as number 156 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The individual sheets in this series are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban. I am grateful to Ward Pieters for assisting with this series. |
Description: Actor Ichimura Uzaemon
XII as Inuda Kobungo (犬田小文吾) trouncing three ruffians Schaap: 14.1 |
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Another state of the above design |
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Description: Actor Iwai Shijaku
I as Inuzaka Keno Tanetomo
standing on a boat during a moonlit night wringing out his wet garments Schaap: 14.8 |
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Description: ? Schaap: Not listed |
“Schaap” refers to listing in Heroes and Ghosts: Japanese Prints by Kuniyoshi by Robert Schaap (Hotei Publishing, Leiden, 1998). CLICK HERE TO RETURN TO MAIN
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