The ukiyo-e print pictured is by Kuniyoshi, not Kunisada. The title is “Choko and Cho-un fighting on a rocky hillside amidst falling leaves,” and it is part of Kuniyoshi’s Heroes of the Popular History of the Three Kingdoms series. It was created circa 1836. This print is an example of a musha-e warrior print. It is a multi-colored woodblock. Kuniyoshi’s signature is in a gourd, which was his signature style in 1836.

Sanguo yan yi (Romance of the Three Kingdoms), written by Luo Guanzhong (ca. 1330–1400) is an historical novel that is set in the turbulent years around the end of the Han Dynasty. It is considered one of the four great classical Chinese novels and is popular throughout East Asia. The book has 120 chapters and hundreds of characters. It deals with 100 years of Chinese history and shares the personal stories and military struggles of the various groups attempting to achieve dominance. Its focus is mainly on the three powers that emerged from the fray to form the three states of Wei, Shu and Wu.

Utagawa Kuniyoshi (also known as Ichiyûsai Kuniyoshi, Chô-ô-rô Kuniyoshi, Ikusa Kuniyoshi, and Saihôsa Kuniyoshi) was born in Edo in 1797. At fourteen, he was apprenticed by Utagawa Toyokuni, the master of the Utagawa school of ukiyo-e artists. He left his apprenticeship in 1814 and became an independent artist. He began by producing actor prints, but became successful in 1827 when he created the first of his famous 108 Heroes of the Suikoden series, based on a Chinese novel, Water Margin, about a band of 108 rebels. Kuniyoshi also did landscapes, beautiful women, cats, and mythical animals but he is best known for his musha-e warrior prints. Kuniyoshi died in 1861.