Chinese name: Shi Xiu

Japanese Name: Henmeisanrō Sekishū

Rank: 33rd of the 108 Stars of Destiny

Nickname: Life Risker

Shi Xiu was raised in Jiankang Prefecture and had studied martial arts since his childhood. He got his nickname, “Life Risker”, because he was known to be intolerant of bullies and would assist in fights to help whoever was being victimized even at the risk of his own life. He had worked with his uncle as a traveling tradesman, and after his uncle died, he lost all his money. Unable to return home, he began selling firewood to make ends meet. 

One evening Shi Xiu was carrying a load of firewood when he came by a gang of thugs trying to rob Jizhou‘s chief warden Yang Xiong (plate 45). Shi Xiu jumped in to help Yang Xiong and together the two men managed to fend off the attackers. After they had chased off the thieves, Shi Xiu and Yang Xiong introduced themselves to one another and became sworn brothers. 

After getting to know Yang Xiong and his wife Pan Qiaoyun, Shi Xiu became suspicious of Pan Qiaoyun carrying on an affair. Yang Xiong spent many nights away from home on official duties, and Shi Xiu suspected his wife was meeting her lover while her husband was away. So, on a night when Yang Xiong was gone, Shi Xiu hid outside his home. Around 4 am a wandering monk arrived and began suspiciously looking around. Shi Xiu silently crept up, put his sword to the back of the man’s neck, and demanded to know why he was loitering around Yang Xiong’s home. The monk divulged Pan Qiaoyun and her lover’s indiscretions, and said he was there to signal to him—by striking a drum—that it was time to leave.

Shi Xiu killed him for assisting the two lovers, then put on the monk’s clothes and began to strike the drum. When Pan Qiaoyun’s paramour stepped out of Yang Xiong’s home, Shi Xiu killed him and took his clothes as well. The two bodies were discovered later that morning lying conspicuously outside Yang Xiong’s house. Shi Xiu brought Yang Xiong the two men’s robes as further evidence of his wife’s adultery.  

Yang Xiong and Shi Xiu lured Pan Qiaoyun to Mount Cuiping under the pretext of visiting the graves of Yang Xiong’s ancestors. Once there, he confronted her about her illicit affair, and she confessed. Fomented by Shi Xiu, Yang Xiong killed Pan Qiaoyun, then killed her maid for serving as a second lookout. Knowing they would be prosecuted for murder, Yang Xiong and Shi Xiu fled to join the outlaw group at Liangshan Marsh.  

Shi Xiu is depicted here having switched clothes with the wandering monk about to beat the drum to signal to Pan Qiaoyun’s lover.  

Kuniyoshi recreation