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Japan: Murai Chôan 邑井長庵. Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904), ‘28 Famous Murders with Verse’, 1866-67

Japan: Murai Chôan 邑井長庵. Utagawa Yoshiiku (1833-1904), ‘28 Famous Murders with Verse’, 1866-67

Utagawa Yoshiiku (歌川 芳幾, 1833 - February 6, 1904, also known as or Ochiai Yoshiiku 落合 芳幾), was a Japanese printmaker and newspaper illustrator. The son of a tea house proprietor, he was a student of Utagawa Kuniyoshi. Utagawa went to school with Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, recognized as the last great masters of Ukiyo (woodblock printing).

Eimei nijūhasshūku (英名 二十八 衆句 or ‘28 Famous Murders with Verse’)., also known as the 'Bloody Prints', is a collection of Japanese ukiyo-e from the 1860s, which depicted gruesome acts of murder or torture based on historical events or scenes in Kabuki plays. Although most of the works are solely violent by nature, it is perhaps the first known example of ero guro or the erotic grotesque in Japanese culture, an art sub-genre which depicts either erotic or extreme images of violence and mutilation.

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