e-awase
{{short description|Japanese game}}
{{Italic title|reason=:Category:Japanese words and phrases}}
{{Infobox game
| name = E-awase
| subtitle = 絵合
| image = “‘A Lovely Garland’ (Tamakazura)- Tamatori-ama,” from the series Scenes amid Genji Clouds Matched with Ukiyo-e Pictures (Genji-gumo ukiyo e-awase) MET DP-18165-001.jpg
| caption = An Ukiyo-e print from Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s e-awase series. The image depicts Tamatori, Fujiwara no Kamatari’s driver, fighting an octopus, 1845-6
| years = Kamakura period
| genre =
| players = 2 teams
| setup_time =
| playing_time =
| random_chance =
| skills = Painting
}}
{{nihongo|E-awase|絵合|painting contest}} was a pastime popular among Japanese nobles during the Kamakura period,{{cite book|author=Louis Frédéric|title=Japan Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p2QnPijAEmEC|accessdate=11 May 2012|year=2002|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-01753-5}} although its history dates back to the Heian.{{cite book|author1=Allen Hockley|author2=Koryūsai Isoda|title=The Prints of Isoda Koryūsai: Floating World Culture and Its Consumers in Eighteenth-century Japan|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QIcsyurU9doC&pg=PA50|accessdate=29 May 2012|year=2003|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-98301-1|pages=50}}
In an e-awase contest, participants were divided into two teams, and created paintings on a predetermined topic, which were then judged by their peers,{{cite book|author=Samuel L. Leiter|title=A Kabuki Reader: History and Performance|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QBqNsGva3wcC&pg=PA122|accessdate=11 May 2012|year=2002|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|isbn=978-0-7656-0704-1|pages=122}} as in the older uta-awase poetry contests.{{cite book|author1=Miyeko Murase|author2=New York Public Library|title=Tales of Japan: scrolls and prints from the New York Public Library|url=https://archive.org/details/talesofjapanscro0000mura|url-access=registration|accessdate=11 May 2012|year=1986|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-504020-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/talesofjapanscro0000mura/page/57 57]}} It was a popular entertainment at parties and social gatherings.{{cite book|author=Jacob Raz|title=Audience and Actors: A Study of Their Interaction in the Japanese Traditional Theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hiQVAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA67|accessdate=11 May 2012|year=1983|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=978-90-04-06886-5|pages=67}} An e-awase contest of this type appears in The Tale of Genji, forming the central theme of chapter 17.{{cite book|author=Murasaki Shikibu|title=The Tale of Genji|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcBiVisq0PMC&pg=PT561|accessdate=11 May 2012|date=24 April 2003|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-0-14-192796-1|pages=561}}
An alternative version of the picture contest was simpler, with players matching or associating pre-painted images.{{cite book|author=Mary Flanagan|title=Critical Play: Radical Game Design|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-VXH43WH5Z4C&pg=PA74|accessdate=29 May 2012|date=30 September 2009|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0-262-06268-8|pages=74}} This was a development of an older game known as {{Transliteration|ja|kai-awase}} ({{lang|ja|貝合}} "shell matching"). Matching scenes would be painted on the inner surfaces of a number of clam shells; these would then be spread on the floor, image side down, and turned over by competitors who would attempt to match the corresponding images.{{cite book|author=Asahi Shinbunsha|title=Japan quarterly|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=55kMAQAAMAAJ|accessdate=29 May 2012|year=1996|publisher=Asahi Shimbun|page=73}}