Gallery Asset

Portrait of Nawa Nagatoshi

This piece is one of the best works by Hasegawa Tohaku (1539～1610) while he was using the name Hasegawa Nobuharu. The motif is an elderly person sitting on tatami in a deep-green summer suou (ceremonial dress of lower-class samurai). In front of him is a page in a flamboyant kataginu hakama (or kamishimo, a ceremonial dress worn by the samurai) and a stable hand holding the reins of a reddish-brown horse. A navy blue sword is against the wall by the elderly figure. The page and the stable hand are wearing short swords, and a flint bag is attached to the stable hand.
The main figure was originally considered to be Nawa Nagatoshi, a samurai lord in the Nanbokucho period, but is now thought to be a warrior who was a contemporary of Nobuharu.