The Warrior Asahina Yoshihide Lifting a Puppet of a Courtesan on a Go Board 1734 - 1766

Torii Kiyoshige made this painting around 1740 using ink and color on silk. The composition stages a theatrical display: a warrior, Asahina Yoshihide, performs a feat of strength, lifting a courtesan presented as a puppet on a Go board. The elongated vertical format emphasizes the precarious balance of the figures, drawing our eye upwards along the implied lines of force. Note the stark contrast between the muscular, almost caricatured, depiction of Asahina and the refined elegance of the courtesan. This contrast serves not only to highlight the warrior’s strength but also to comment on the social hierarchy and the performative aspects of gender and power. The Go board, typically a site of strategic intellect, becomes a platform for spectacle, suggesting a critique of social roles as mere performance. Consider how Kiyoshige uses the contrast in scale and style to destabilize fixed meanings, inviting us to reconsider the relationship between strength and grace, power and submission, reality and artifice. The painting doesn't just show a scene; it performs a critical commentary.