Shoki demon queller utagawa kunisada biography
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Shôki - The Demon Queller
Shōki, in China called Zhōng Kuí (or Chung Kwei), was a demon killer, or one might say demon queller, who was considered to protect against demons and disease. Originally he comes from Chinese Taoism, but he turns up in Japanese art as early as in the 12th century. However, his popularity in Japan culminated during the Edo period (1603-1867) and ukiyo-e; he was a common motive in the woodblock prints of that era.
The demon queller is usually depicted as a big and ugly man with a scholar's headgear, a sometimes green coat, and big boots. He's often seen fighting demons.
In red prints, so-called aka-e, Shōki was considered to protect against smallpox.
Left: Nishimura Shigenaga - Shôki the Demon Queller, 1740s.
Middle: Okumura Masanobu - Shôki the Demon Queller, 1725.
Right: Katsukawa Shunsho - Actor Ichikawa Danzo III as Shôki the Demon Queller in the Play Date Moyo Kumo ni Inazuma, Performed at the Morita Theater in
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Shôki the Demon Queller, from an album of paintings of Shôki, Edo period (1615–1868)
About this artwork
Status
- Currently Off View
Department
- Arts of Asia
Artist
- Kanô Yasunobu, School of
Title
- Shôki the Demon Queller, from an album of paintings of Shôki, Edo period (1615–1868)
Place
- Japan (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
- 1699–1899
Medium
- Album; ink on paper
Credit Line
- Frederick W. Gookin Collection
Reference Number
- 1939.1842
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.
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While the word "ukiyo-e" often calls to mind elegant courtesans, dramatic actors, and picturesque landscapes, these celebrated works represent only one side of Edo-period innovation. Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) presents a complementary, yet counter point to the prints of artists such as Hokusai and Utamaro. As his fellow masters capture the physical realms of Edo's floating world, Kuniyoshi presents a phantasmagoria of the fierce, frightening, and the fantastic. Yet, like Hokusai and Hiroshige are to landscape, Utamaro to courtesans, Kuniyoshi belongs to the ukiyo-e canon, bringing Japanese myth, magic, history, and legend to life.
Welcomed by the changing tide in public taste during the 19th century, Kuniyoshi's ukiyo-e were nothing less than groundbreaking—in content, in format, and in sheer imaginative capacity. In terms of subject matter, Kuniyoshi ushered a niche print genre to glupsk popularity. Though warrior prints (musha-e) emerged as early as 1646, few woodblock pri