The Tengu King Training his Pupils

This circa 1690 woodblock print in the Art Institute of Chicago, The Tengu King Training his Pupils, depicts the legendary tengu, the long-nosed, mountain-dwelling supernatural beings of Japanese folk religion, in their traditional role as martial arts teachers. According to widely circulated legend, the great warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune was trained in the arts of war by the Tengu King at Mount Kurama, and this story became one of the most enduring iconographic subjects in Japanese visual culture. Moronobu's choice to depict the Tengu King training his pupils signals the breadth of his interests beyond the Yoshiwara, the hanami site, and the daimyo procession, encompassing the rich repertoire of legendary, religious, and folkloric narrative that animated Edo popular culture. The composition typically arranges the tengu master with his various avian-faced followers in martial postures, set within a mountainous landscape. Moronobu's confident line work handles the figural variety, the costumes, the implements of training, and the rocky setting with characteristic skill. The work documents Moronobu's role in establishing the iconographic vocabulary for tengu imagery in popular print, a tradition that would continue through later ukiyo-e and into modern manga.