28 Famous Murders

Between 1866 and 1868 the celebrated Japanese artist Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, in collaboration with his colleague Utagawa Yoshiiku, produced a series of images of graphic horror and cruelty entitled ’28 Famous Murders with Verse’.

The series of 28 ukiyo-e woodblock prints shocked, horrified and delighted the citizens of Edo – or at least those of a voyeuristic and morbid disposition.

Known as the muzan-e, ‘atrocious’ or ‘cruel pictures’, all 28 are reproduced here together with other examples of the genre by Yoshitoshi, as well as short essays of ‘The Strange World of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’ and ’28 Famous Murders with Verse’.