Minneapolis Institute of Art

Study of a mountain goblin (tengu) dressed as a hermit (yamabushi)

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi

Date

1860s

Medium

Sketch, ink on paper

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Yoshitoshi was an excellent draftsman, and unlike many other print designers of his time, a fair number of his preparatory sketches and drawings have survived. This study of a tengu, or mountain goblin, was likely for a larger composition, since such supernatural beings were never featured in individual portraits. This mountain goblin is dressed as a hermit and carries a type of staff with metal rings that is often associated with hermits in Japanese art. Unusually, here the tengu holds it upside-down, apparently to use as a weapon. The tengu bares his teeth, probably because he is facing a hero who might slay him. Asia

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