Sakata Kintoki Wrestling with a Tengu

Dated to 1715-1718, this o-oban tan-e depicts the legendary strongman Sakata Kintoki (also known as Kintaro, the Golden Boy) wrestling a tengu, the mountain spirit of Japanese folklore. Kintoki was a beloved figure of popular legend, raised in the wilds of the Ashigara mountains by his mother Yamauba and famed in childhood for his preternatural strength, with which he supposedly subdued bears and demons. The wrestling-the-tengu subject brought Kintoki's youthful prowess into vivid visual form and made an ideal showcase for Kiyomasu I's muscular drawing style. The print uses the Torii workshop's characteristic bold outlines and gourd-shaped limbs (hyotan-ashi) to emphasize Kintoki's physical force, hand-colored throughout with tan pigment to enhance the visual impact. The Art Institute of Chicago holds this work.