# Sakata Kintoki Wrestling with a Tengu

- By: Torii Kiyomasu I (Japanese, active c. 1704–18)
- Date: 1715-18
- Medium: Hand-colored woodblock print; o-oban, tan-e
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: 68.8 × 32.8 cm (26 3/4 × 13 in.)
- Culture: Japan
- Credit line: Clarence Buckingham Collection
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/19137)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/4ffbe40a-9c17-b5d2-b876-46e77a2a9e55/full/!1484,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The man depicted here is Kintoki, a hero from Japanese folklore famous for engaging supernatural beings in battle. His birth name was Kintarō, and he had legendary strength even while still a boy. Here he is shown wrestling with a tengu, a type of mythical birdman said to live on Mount Kurama, north of Kyoto. The hand coloring is primarily red (tan), derived from red lead, and green (roku), made from malachite, a scheme that was popular before multicolored printing was introduced. Despite the limited palette, the pigment was skillfully applied in a variety of saturations so that the thicker red could represent the tengu’s supernatural skin while the thinner red conveys Kintoki’s flushed face.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0