Issued in 1887, this dynamic woodblock print by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi portrays Lu Zhishen, the impetuous warrior-monk of the Chinese novel Water Margin (Suikoden), in the throes of a notorious episode at the monastery on Mount Wutai, here rendered in Japanese as Godaisan. Expelled from the temple after disturbing the monks with his drinking, Lu Zhishen returns in a furious stupor and shatters the great wooden image of the Niō guardian deity Kongōjin that stands at the gate. Yoshitoshi captures the moment of violent impact with a diagonal composition: the monk's robe flares outward, his fist drives upward, and splinters of the painted statue scatter across the picture plane. The drama of the scene, with its mixture of comic excess and physical fury, is heightened by Yoshitoshi's bold linework and the printer's confident use of saturated reds against the muted timbers of the temple gate. The subject reflects the enduring popularity of the Suikoden among Meiji [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) audiences, a taste that Utagawa Kuniyoshi had cultivated a generation earlier and that Tsukioka Yoshitoshi extended into the modern era with greater psychological depth. Produced during the same prolific period as his serial masterpieces, including One Hundred Aspects of the Moon, the print demonstrates Yoshitoshi's gift for combining narrative legibility with theatrical violence. The Art Institute of Chicago preserves this impression, and curatorial information can be consulted on the museum's website at artic.edu/artworks/155847.
1888
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Color woodblock print
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Lu Zhishen in a Drunken Rage Attacking the Guardian Figure at the Temple on Mount Godai (Rochishin ransui Godaisan Kongojin o uchikowasu no zu) was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) in September 1887.
Lu Zhishen in a Drunken Rage Attacking the Guardian Figure at the Temple on Mount Godai (Rochishin ransui Godaisan Kongojin o uchikowasu no zu) depicts figures, temples & shrines, and mythology.
