A scene from Suikoden (Chinese: Shuihu zhuan, "Water Margin"), the Chinese vernacular novel of 108 outlaw heroes that found a wide Japanese readership after Bakin's translation and Kuniyoshi's print series of 1827–1830. Rin Chū (Lin Chong) is one of the principal heroes; the episode shown — his killing of the treacherous officer Riku Ken (Lu Qian) at a snowbound mountain-spirit shrine — is a frequently illustrated moment in the Suikoden cycle. Yoshitoshi's version likely places the figures before the small wooden temple, snow falling or settled across roof and ground, sword raised mid-strike. The artist trained under Kuniyoshi precisely during the period when his master's Suikoden prints defined warrior imagery, and Yoshitoshi's treatment of the same source material extends that lineage with greater anatomical specificity and atmospheric weight. The composition would deploy [bokashi](/glossary/bokashi) gradations across the snowfield to set the figures off, exemplifying [musha-e](/glossary/musha-e) during the final decades of [ukiyo-e](/glossary/ukiyo-e) production.
1888
Color woodblock print; oban
n.d.
Color woodblock print
伏見稲荷
Woodblock print
c. 1832/38
Color woodblock print; oban
Woodblock print
Uji Byodoin no ichibu
1921
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Rin Chû kills officer Riku near the temple of the mountain spirit was created by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年).
Rin Chû kills officer Riku near the temple of the mountain spirit depicts temples & shrines, mythology, and mountains.