Tartars Playing Polo 1700 - 1731

Kano Eisen'in Furunobu made this painting of Tartars Playing Polo in Japan, sometime around the early 18th century, with ink and color on silk. This painting exemplifies the public role of art in Edo-period Japan, where the Kano school served the shogunate and other powerful entities. The image of Tartars, or more broadly, foreigners, playing polo, presents an idealized vision of cultural exchange and imperial power. Equestrian skill was associated with the samurai class, and the depiction of foreigners engaging in this activity may have served to legitimize the shogunate’s rule. To understand this painting better, one must research the historical relationship between Japan and other cultures, as well as the politics of imagery within the Kano school's artistic production. This work reflects the social conditions that shaped artistic production during the Edo period and how art served to promote existing social norms.