In the year 1120
A gang of anti-authority thieves led by 36 great leaders with Soko as the head robbed around the valley of the Yellow River by making use of waterways. Based on this fact, the story of Suikoden was created and has been told.
The author is said to be either “Shitaian” or “Rakanchu” when the story was finally written down as a book and is now counted as one of the Three Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. It is an extremely long novel.
In late Northern Sung Dynasty, under the reign of the elegant emperor Kiso, people were immersed in unprecedented period of peace. As a result of indulging themselves in luxury, the signs of decadent and excessive maturity were finally showing. People have been deluded and uncertainties gradually prevailed.
A young man with a chivalrous spirit “Shishin” burnt down the house where he was born and left home. Having tattoo of nine dragons (Kumonryu) all over his body and Tenbi star of destiny in his hand, people called him Kumonryu-Shishin.
Later on the strange destiny swirled like a whirlpool and summoned up fellow ruffians. The great Yellow River bore its fangs and mainland started wavering.
July, 2009 Horiyoshi the 3rd