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

Torii Kiyoshige

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art