BEAUTIFUL Kuniyoshi Utagawa painting! I love it when art from hundreds of years ago is every bit as fun and inspired as anything from a modern game or comic book. This scene uses blossoms to recreate a classic scene from Japanese literature where Yoshitsune jumps across 8 boats! https://twitter.com/ukiyoeota/status/1262667619846373381

Here's another painting of the same famous scene, "The Battle of Dan-no-Ura of 1185" by Utagawa Yoshikazu (pupil of the previous artist). The idea of a bishounen hero flying through the air (clearing 8 ships!) with his weapon drawn in the midst of battle is not a modern conceit!

You know how every agile video game hero has a double jump? Well, double jumps exist in one of the great classics of Japanese literature, The Tale of the Heike (平家物語), which is nearly 1000 years old (its the source for all the paintings in this thread) https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/846778584542830593?s=20

Don't let anyone tell you that games and comics and all this fun stuff are just modern corporate pop culture and thus lesser than high art. These things have deep roots. People have always enjoyed good stories and good aesthetics! https://art-eater.com/articles/a-buddhist-s-guide-to-asura-s-wrath-part-1-buddhist-cyborgs-and-the-story-of-the-asura