Asahina Saburō Yoshihide

Asahina Saburō Yoshihide was a legendary warrior of the Kamakura period, celebrated for his extraordinary physical strength—he is said to have wrestled crabs on the beach and bent iron bars with his bare hands. This 1872–73 nishiki-e print depicts him in the tradition of heroic warrior portraits, his enormous frame and fierce expression conveying the superhuman physicality for which he was renowned. Yoshitoshi remained drawn throughout his career to figures whose bodies embodied extraordinary force, from Benkei to Kintarō to Asahina.