Japanese Kuchi-E Woodblock Print

A tiger mid-lunge around a tree, and a warrior who has clearly decided not to run.

This kuchi-e woodblock print, Warrior and Tiger, is from Japan, Meiji Period (1868 – 1912 CE), in ink on paper, by an unknown artist. Kuchi-e were frontispiece prints bound into Japanese novels and literary magazines of the period. An armored warrior in a tall white helmet braces behind a long spear as a striped orange tiger twists around a pale tree trunk, claws out and jaws open. Grass and leafy branches frame the struggle on a gray ground. It is 8.5 inches wide and 7.5 high.

One of them is about to have a very bad afternoon, and it is not yet clear which.