E-awase (絵合, painting contest) was a pastime popular among Japanese nobles during the Kamakura period,[1] although its history dates back to the Heian.

[5] An e-awase contest of this type appears in The Tale of Genji, forming the central theme of chapter 17.

[6] An alternative version of the picture contest was simpler, with players matching or associating pre-painted images.

[7] This was a development of an older game known as kai-awase (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.