Utagawa's Lifetime Masterpiece, from the Japanese version of the Shuihu Zhuan

Utagawa's Lifetime Masterpiece, from the Japanese version of the Shuihu Zhuan

Utagawa Kunisada

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Chinese vernacular novel known as the Shuihu Zhuan (Suikoden in Japanese), relating the adventures of the 108 heroes of Liangshan, became enormously popular in nineteenth-century Japan, and many Japanese novels imitating the Shuihu Zhuan were dramatized as Kabuki plays. Here, Kunisada has depicted ten major Kabuki actors in roles from a play by Yagura Suikoden.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Utagawa's Lifetime Masterpiece, from the Japanese version of the Shuihu ZhuanUtagawa's Lifetime Masterpiece, from the Japanese version of the Shuihu ZhuanUtagawa's Lifetime Masterpiece, from the Japanese version of the Shuihu ZhuanUtagawa's Lifetime Masterpiece, from the Japanese version of the Shuihu ZhuanUtagawa's Lifetime Masterpiece, from the Japanese version of the Shuihu Zhuan

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.