Cruelty and Carnage

Muzan-e (cruel pictures'') and Chimidoro-e (''bloody pictures'') together constitute a significant strand of Ukiyo-e, the populist art of late Edo-period Japan. Yoshiiku''s contributions to this series are matched in horror by many other of his prints, ranging from illustrations of misogynistic murder to kabuki scenes of torture and images of warriors harvesting severed heads in battle. These gory pictures were also produced by other artists, including Kunisada, Kuniyoshi, Yoshitoshi, Yoshiyuki, Kunichika and the unsung creators of garish Osaka sex-crime news-sheets. ''