Yamamoto Kansuke Killing a Wild Boar

A group of men surround and tussle with a massive gray boar that kicks up balls of snow, obscuring the scene. Yamamoto Kansuke (1500–1561), the main subject of this print, readies his spear at the far right, his eyes trained on the rampaging beast. Kansuke was a military strategist and warrior during the Warring States period (1467–1573). According to legend, he fought a boar with his bare hands and lost one eye in the process; in reality, he was attacked and rendered partially blind by a boar as a child.