One of the eight dog-warriors. Bakin's Hakkenden is the great sprawling epic of Edo fiction — the saga of eight half-brothers born of a miraculous bond between a princess and a heroic dog, each scattered at birth, each carrying a peony-shaped birthmark and a crystal bead embodying one of the Confucian virtues, all fated to find one another and serve the Satomi house. Every one bears "inu" — dog — in his name. It's Japan's answer to a band of destined heroes, generations before the manga that would inherit the idea.

Inuyama Dōsetsu is one of the eight, remembered for high drama: a spectacular escape wreathed in fire and smoke, and the celebrated rooftop confrontation at the Hōryūkaku tower where two of the dog-brothers first clash before learning they're kin. Kuniyoshi — who adored the Hakkenden and illustrated it endlessly — casts the formidable Ichikawa Ebizō V in the role.

The actor Ichikawa Ebizō V (五代目市川海老蔵) as Inuyama Dōsetsu (犬山道節), from the series Giyū hakkenden (義勇八犬伝, The Loyal Heroes of Bakin’s “Hakkenden”; the Eight Dog Warriors) 1848.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (歌川国芳, 1798-1861)