Classic heroes gain fresh resonance in Kuniyoshi Utagawa’s 108 Heroes of the Popular Suikoden (c.1827-30). Pulling the viewer into a whirlwind of muscular limbs, lavish textiles, and lethal weapons, Kuniyoshi reimagined 12th-century Chinese bandits as fierce paragons of self-made justice for a 19th-century Japanese audience. Adapted from the classic Chinese novel of the same name, Tales of the Water Margin (Suikoden) stresses honor and loyalty as a band of outlaw heroes bring down crooked officials through their own code of justice. Stifled by the social stratification and political censorship of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Edo’s merchant class embraced these stories. As Kuniyoshi channeled this zeitgeist, he elevated the warrior print genre and established himself as the master of all subjects fierce and fantastic. Ronin Gallery is pleased to present 35 of these very rare, early works.