Hunter (Karyūdo) from Spring amusements: fox game (Shunkyō mitate kitsune ken)

http://data.europeana.eu/agent/146870

Colour woodblock print, 'Hunter' (Karyūdo) from the triptych 'Spring amusements: fox game' (Shunkyō mitate kitsune ken) by Kitagawa Utamaro, published by Murataya Jirōbei in Edo (modern Tokyo), Japan, between 1801 and 1804. Left sheet from a triptych, ōban format, nishiki-e print. The fox game is similar to rock-paper-scissors. While the hunter (represented here by a woman holding a handscroll as if it were a weapon) can defeat the fox, the fox triumphs over the village head who out-ranks the hunter. The Chester Beatty has the right and left prints from this triptych, the fox and the hunter, though background details suggest that they may be from different editions. In the complete triptych, the village head, depicted as an elegant young man, sits between the fox and the hunter.