History of the Eight Dogs of Satomi

(Satomi Hakkenden)

Publisher: San-Katsu

c. 1850-1852

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, produces eight great warriors fathered by a dog. The majority of the novel’s 181 chapters relate their swashbuckling adventures. This series is not listed in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982), but it is listed in the book’s unpublished supplement as S66a. It is also listed as number 47 in Kuniyoshi by Basil William Robinson (Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1961). The individual prints are each about 14 by 10 inches (36 by 25 centimeters), a size known as ôban. Several of the prints can be placed side by side to form diptychs.

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Hero: Sugikura Kiso-no-suke Ujimoto as an old man dressed in a straw raincoat and hat crouching on the shore with a dragon appearing over the waves above him Robinson: S66a.2

Hero: Satomi Jibu-no-dayû Yoshizane, father of Fuse-hime (mother of the Eight Dogs) on the sea-shore wearing a straw raincoat over armor and raising his straw hat Robinson: S66a.1

Hero: Inuzaka Keno Tanetomo holding the rudder of a small boat with rushes in the foreground Robinson: S66a.4

Hero: Inuda Kobungo Yasuyori on the shore, wiping his sword with one foot on a fallen foe Robinson: S66a.3

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Hero: Inumura Daihaku Masanori in a forceful dispute with his faithful wife Hinaginu with the moon shining through a barred window behind them

Robinson: S66a.5

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Hero: Inuyama Dôsetsu Tadatomo kneeling on Sadamasa with his sword at the latter's throat

Robinson: S66a.6

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Hero: Inuye Shimbei Masashi wielding an uprooted tree trunk against two cowering assailants

Robinson: S66a.7

Hero: Inukawa Shôsuke with a drawn sword seeking cover from a hail of domestic utensils behind a wooden pillar

Robinson: S66a.8

Hero: Inukai Kempachi confronting Inudzuka Shino on the Hôryukaku roof with the gable-end rising between them Robinson: S66a.10

Hero: Inudzuka Shino confronting Inukai Kempachi on the Hôryukaku roof with the gable-end rising between them Robinson: S66a.9

‘Robinson’ refers to listing in Kuniyoshi: The Warrior-Prints by Basil William Robinson (Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, 1982) and its unpublished supplement.

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