Scroll 1 from Tale of Musashibō Benkei (Musashibō e Engi jō)

Tosa Mitsuhiro, formerly attributed to

Scroll 1 from 'Tale of Musashibō Benkei' (Musashibō e Engi jō) painted in ink and colours on paper in Japan in the second half of the 16th century. One of a set of three illustrated handscrolls that tell the story of Benkei, a semi-legendary warrior monk and loyal retainer of the warlord Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159-1189). In the first scroll, an unusual child is discovered living in the wild. Shaving his head, he becomes a monk and takes the name Benkei, but he also grows to be a mighty warrior.