"NERD" is the word. Oh My Cow!

Kyosai’s distinct sarcasm, playful virtuosity and extraordinary inventiveness are the themes of Kyoto National Museum’s spring exhibition, “Bridge to Modernity: Kyosai’s Adventures in Painting,” showing till May 11. The artist lived in a time of extraordinary national and cultural tumult as Japan transformed itself from a feudalist society into a modern nation state…. 

…Kyosai updated the style to notable effect, particularly in his “Fart Battle” (1867). Also shown in the the Mori Art Museum’s “Smile” exhibition last year, the scroll depicts participants being fed from a caldron of root vegetables to provoke a battle of gas as entertainment for palace courtiers. As the amusements progress, the passing of wind intensifies to the wind-powered launching of hay bales as missiles between the opposing teams.