Li Kui (Japanese: Kokusenpu Riki), the "Black Whirlwind," was among the most violent and uncontrollable of the Water Margin heroes — a berserker who wielded twin axes in combat and whose appetite for destruction made him simultaneously terrifying and endearing. This oban from c. 1827 is one of Kuniyoshi's earliest Suikoden prints, and Li Kui's ferocious energy suited his compositional instinct for figures caught at the peak of physical assertion. The twin-axe warrior became one of his most recognizable and frequently reproduced Suikoden images.
c. 1828/30
Color woodblock print; surimono
c. 1828/30
Color woodblock print; surimono
c. 1827/30
Color woodblock print; oban
c. 1827/30
Color woodblock print; oban
Curated cross-cuts that include this print.
Li Kui (Kokusenpu Riki, ichimei Ritetsugyu), from the series "One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)" was created by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳) in c. 1827.
Yes — Li Kui (Kokusenpu Riki, ichimei Ritetsugyu), from the series "One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)" is part of the One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Suikoden series (print 22 of 108) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi.
Li Kui (Kokusenpu Riki, ichimei Ritetsugyu), from the series "One Hundred and Eight Heroes of the Popular Water Margin (Tsuzoku Suikoden goketsu hyakuhachinin no hitori)" depicts heroes & warriors, warriors, and suikoden (water margin).