Journey to the West
- Medium:
- Woodblock print
- Source:
- Robyn Buntin of Honolulu
- Image courtesy of
- Robyn Buntin of Honolulu
Description
This third print from Kyosai's Saiyūki (Journey to the West) series continues the multi-sheet illustration of Wu Cheng'en's Chinese narrative. The story's pilgrimage structure — a sequence of trials faced by Genjō Sanzō, Son Goku, Chohakkai, and Sagojō as they travel from Tang China to India — provided printmakers with a ready framework for episodic illustration across a series. Kyosai's interpretation would reflect his absorption of both Chinese painting conventions (relevant to the story's geographic and cultural setting) and Japanese woodblock print traditions. His rendering of the Monkey King in particular drew on an iconographic vocabulary established in earlier Japanese Saiyūki illustrations, which he would have known through his extensive study of prior artistic production. The composition likely balances figure groupings against landscape or architectural backgrounds, using the spatial conventions of the oban format to organize multiple characters within the picture field.
More Prints by Kawanabe Kyosai
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
Old Picture of the Rashômon Gate (Rashômon no ko zu), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho tsuzuki
Woodblock print
Tsukishimadera Temple in Hyôgo (Hyôgo Tsukishimadera), from the series Scenes of Famous Places along the Tôkaidô Road (Tôkaidô meisho fûkei), also known as the Processional Tôkaidô (Gyôretsu Tôkaidô), here called Tôkaidô meisho no uchi
Woodblock print
from the series One Hundred Pictures by Kyôsai (Kyôsai hyakuzu)
Woodblock print
More Travel Scenes Prints
Rain Shower at Shо̄no, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tо̄kaidо̄ (Tо̄kaidо̄ gojusan tsugi)
1962
Woodblock print, ink and color on paper
Lake Kugushi in Wakasa Province (Wakasa Kugushiko), from the series Souvenirs of Travel I (Tabi miyage dai isshu)"
Wakasa Kugushiko
1920
Color woodblock print; oban
Pacific Ocean, Awa Province (Boshu Taikai), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Third Series (Tabi miyage dai sanshu)"
Boshu Taikai
1925
Color woodblock print; oban
Gosai Canal in Niigata (Niigata Gosaibori), from the series "Souvenirs of Travel, Second Series (Tabi miyage dai nishu)"
Niigata Gosaibori
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Frequently Asked Questions
Journey to the West was created by Kawanabe Kyosai (河鍋暁斎).
Journey to the West depicts travel scenes.