Ink drawing attributed to Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) 'Drunken Wu Song Beating Jiang Menshen', Scene from The Water Margin (Shuihuzhuan水滸伝), Outlaws of the Marsh, a Classic of Chinese Literature.

Attributed to Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849).
Drunken Wu Song Beating Jiang Menshen, Scene from The Water Margin (Shuihuzhuan水滸伝), Outlaws of the Marsh, a Classic of Chinese Literature.
Japan. Edo period, first quarter 19th century.
Ink on paper.

Inscribed in ink 武松酔打蒋門神  (Drunken Wu Song beating Jiang Menshen).
 
The strongman Wu Song 武松 (Japanese, Gyōjia Bushō 清河縣之産武松) is a principal character in the Ming-dynasty novel The Water Margin. Wu Song has been dispatched to take back a tavern the thug Jiang Menshen 蒋門神 has confiscated from another character in the tale. Wu Song declares he is only as strong as he is drunk and imbibes at every opportunity on his way to the tavern. There, he creates a melee to entice out Jiang, whom he defeats with a swift kick, illustrated here. Humiliated, Jiang relinquishes the tavern and leaves town.
 
Provenance
Anthony d’Offay Fine Art, London, 1967.
Stephen Keynes Collection, Cambridge, 1967–2019.
 

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