Kawanabe Kyosai
Japanese, 1831-1889
May: Shoki the Demon Queller Riding on a Tiger, Subjugating Goblins, from the series "Of the Twelve Months: the Fifth (Junikagetsu no uchi: gogatsu)"
INV-1033
Kawanabe Kyosai
Japanese, 1831-18891887
May: Shoki the Demon Queller Riding on a Tiger, Subjugating Goblins, from the series "Of the Twelve Months: the Fifth (Junikagetsu no uchi: gogatsu)"
Kawanabe Kyosai Japanese, 1831-1889 →Japanese (culture or style)woodblock printprint
Date
1887
Medium
Color woodblock prints; oban triptych
Dimensions
35.7 × 73.2 cm (14 1/16 × 28 7/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Nathalie Gookin Fund in memory of Frederick W. Gookin
The tiger clutches one ferocious goblin in his jaws while Shōki’s sword subdues the others. “May” is printed in English on the right edge of the design, perhaps in an effort to make the print seem more fashionable at a moment when Western influence in Japan was growing. Images of Shōki are often hung to celebrate the Boys’ Day festival, which takes place in May.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
Komurasaki of the Miuraya and Shirai Gompachi (Miuraya Komurasaki, Shirai Gompachi)
Kitagawa Utamaro 喜多川 歌麿 Japanese, c.1753-1806
Hamamatsu, from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
Mitsuke: Ferries Crossing the Tenryu River (Mitsuke, Tenryugawa funawatashi), from the series "Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido (Tokaido gojusan tsugi)," also known as the Tokaido with Poem (Kyoka iri Tokaido)
Utagawa Hiroshige 歌川 広重 Japanese, 1797-1858
