Red Shoki, the Demon Queller - Katsushika Hokusai

The artwork

"Red Shoki, the Demon Queller" by Katsushika Hokusai is one of the most fascinating images of Japanese tradition, in which myth and art merge in an image of great symbolic force. This print, reproduced on Amalfi paper, captures the energy and power of the legendary demon queller, an iconic figure of Eastern culture.

The scene depicts the legendary exorcist Shoki (Zhong Kui), a hero of Chinese tradition adopted in Japan as a powerful queller of demons and disease. Hokusai portrays him in red monochrome because this colour was considered apotropaic, particularly against the smallpox that struck Edo in those years. The work was created as an image of household protection and is linked to the Boys' Festival on the 5th day of the 5th month, when figures of Shoki were displayed to ensure children's health. Made when the artist was about eighty-seven, it testifies to his continuing attention to popular and devotional themes, fusing Chinese iconography and the ukiyo-e sensibility of the Edo period.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
With frame: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: light brown beech wood and wood pulp, handmade