E-awase

E-awase was a pastime popular among Japanese nobles during the Kamakura period, although its history dates back to the Heian.
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, as in the older uta-awase poetry contests. It was a popular entertainment at parties and social gatherings. An e-awase contest of this type appears in The [Tale of Genji], forming the central theme of chapter 17.
An alternative version of the picture contest was simpler, with players matching or associating pre-painted images. This was a development of an older game known as . 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.