A many-headed beast looms over two figures on a mountain path

A many-headed grey beast with red-rimmed eyes and gaping, fanged mouths looms over two small figures on a mountain path. Its spotted grey body ends in a flame-shaped tail with a red base, and its paws show sharp red-orange claws. One figure, seated in a red-orange robe with wild pale hair, gestures toward a second, who wears a white peaked hood and carries a rectangular pack on his back. Streaked bands of red-orange and grey cross the sky, with jagged tan mountains behind.

The original: one of a set of five handscrolls, ink, color and cut gold leaf on paper, Japan, Kamakura period, late 13th century, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Emaki are Japanese illustrated handscrolls that combine calligraphy and painting on long rolls of paper or silk, read by unrolling from right to left. The Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Tenjin Shrine tell of the scholar and statesman Sugawara no Michizane (845–903), who died in exile after a court conspiracy and was worshipped as Tenjin at the Kitano Tenmangū shrine in Kyoto, a story painted in more than thirty versions. This late 13th-century set of five handscrolls from the Kamakura period, in ink, colour and cut gold leaf on paper, is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Printed as a museum-grade giclée on Hahnemühle fine art paper using 12-ink archival pigment printing. Available handframed in FSC-certified wood with optional float glass, or unframed. Ships worldwide with free delivery to 30+ countries.