The Warrior Asahina Yoshihide Lifting a Puppet of a Courtesan on a Go Board

mid-18th century

Not on view

This bizarre but intriguing ukiyo-e painting shows the famous medieval warrior Asahina Yoshihide balancing a puppet of an early Edo-period courtesan on a thick wooden go game board. A young female attendant holds one of Asahina’s hairy legs steady while he performs this muscular act of derring-do.

A retainer of the Minamoto clan who fought with family members in a revolt against Hōjō shogunal regents in 1213, Asahina was a historical figure of note. But he is better remembered through literary accounts as the son of the female warrior Tomoe Gozen and through his regular representation in kabuki plays as a warrior of superhuman strength. Asahina’s crest was a crane motif, as seen here, but if the scene is based on theater, the kabuki play that inspired it has yet to be discovered.

Artwork Details

Object Information

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

References

伝鳥居清重筆　朝比奈義秀図
Title: The Warrior Asahina Yoshihide Lifting a Puppet of a Courtesan on a Go Board
Artist: Torii Kiyoshige (Japanese, active ca. 1716–1759)
Period: Edo period (1615–1868)
Date: mid-18th century
Culture: Japan
Medium: Hanging scroll; ink, color and gold on paper
Dimensions: Image: 30 in. × 7 15/16 in. (76.2 × 20.1 cm)
Overall with mounting: 65 3/16 × 12 11/16 in. (165.5 × 32.2 cm)
Overall with knobs: 65 3/16 × 14 7/8 in. (165.5 × 37.8 cm)
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Mary Griggs Burke Collection, Gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation, 2015
Object Number: 2015.300.131
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Armor (<i>Gusoku</i>), Saotome Ietada Japanese, Iron, lacquer, silk, gilt copper, Japanese — Armor (*Gusoku*)
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