Samurai Asai Nagamasa by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861), master of ukiyo-e style of Japanese woodblock prints. Sitting on a campstool covered with a tiger pelt, Asai turns toward the source of the spear being thrust in his direction from the lower right. Another samurai sits behind him holding the severed head of a defeated enemy, no doubt for presentation to his commander. Holding a writing implement in his right hand, with paper on the ground before him, this warrior may either be preparing to compose a record of the battle just ended, or writing a farewell poem, an act often preceding a samurai's suicide as might be required by what happened on the battlefield that day.