Outlaw Death Swords: Suikoden Heroes by Kuniyoshi (Samurai Ghost Wars)

Outlaw Death Swords: Suikoden Heroes by Kuniyoshi (Samurai Ghost Wars)

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) is regarded as one of the true masters of ukiyo-e, the populist art of Edo-period Japan. Kuniyoshi produced thousands of prints and designs during his lifetime, but is perhaps best-known for his musha-e (“warrior prints”), which propelled him to prominence around 1827-1830. Kuniyoshi’s series 108 Heroes Of The Suikoden was revolutionary in its dynamics, colour and visual violence, establishing the delirious, almost proto-psychedelic style with which the artist would recreate archetypal heroes, outlaws and renegades from Japanese history and legend over the ensuing decades.OUTLAW DEATH SWORDS collects the entire 74-picture 108 Heroes series, plus Kuniyoshi’s equally vivid and complex 30-picture 800 Heroes Of Our Country’s Suikoden (Honchô Suikoden gôyû happyaku-nin no hitori, 1830-1836); taken together, the 104 portrait images of warriors, heroes and anti-heroes in OUTLAW DEATH SWORDS comprise a stunning selection of the art and imagination of an unsurpassed 19th century master as applied to the dazzling, hyper-kinetic and often violent genre in which he remains unsurpassed.