Description
A kind of caricature called yose-e (“piled-up pictures”), this unique and elaborate piece combines various figures to create everything from the person’s eyes, nose and mouth to the eyebrows and even his topknot (probably his body beneath the kimono as well!). The Western painter Arcimboldo used fruits and vegetables to express the human body in the same fashion, but the relationship between the two is unclear. A connection to Kamakura period military commander Asahina Yoshihide is also rumored due to the pattern on the kimono.