The first of the 108 outlaws to appear in 水浒传: a village heir trained in arms by the drill instructor 王进, nicknamed 九纹龙 for the nine dragons tattooed on his body.
His story leads straight into 鲁智深's: looking for his teacher in 渭州, he meets the officer 鲁达 in a teahouse, and over wine they hear the singer 金翠莲 weeping, which ends in 拳打镇关西.
memory
史 means 'history', fitting that Shi Jin opens the history of the Liangshan outlaws. Mnemonic: 'History Enters', the saga begins with him.