A striking official 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany Art Poster by Japanese contemporary artist Hisashi Tenmyouya. The work, titled 蹴球之図 (Shūkyū no Zu, “Football”), was created as Japan’s contribution to the official art-poster programme surrounding the 2006 World Cup in Germany. This is the large-format open edition poster version, printed with the official FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 mark at lower left and the lower-right credit line: “ART POSTER — HISASHI TENMYOUYA — JAPAN — FOOTBALL — 2004.”
This poster should be understood not as the standard public tournament poster, but as part of the separate official FIFA art-poster project, in which contemporary artists from around the world were commissioned to create original artworks on the theme of football. Tenmyouya was the only artist selected from Japan for the programme, with the project bringing together 14 artists internationally.
Date & FIFA World Cup Context
The 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006, across Germany, with Italy ultimately defeating France in the final on penalties. It remains one of the most culturally memorable modern World Cups: a highly visual tournament, staged in Germany as a global celebration of football, national identity and international spectacle.
The official art-poster programme was one of the cultural projects connected to the 2006 tournament. Tokyo Art Beat’s contemporary notice describes the official poster project as involving 14 contemporary artists, selected for a collaboration between football and art, with Tenmyouya representing Japan and showing his forceful Neo-Nihonga vocabulary to an international audience.
The Artist: Hisashi Tenmyouya
Hisashi Tenmyouya was born in Tokyo in 1966 and is one of the most distinctive Japanese contemporary artists of his generation. His work is associated with Neo-Nihonga, a self-conscious revival and transformation of Japanese painting traditions into a contemporary visual language. Mizuma Art Gallery describes him as having moved from work as a record-company art director into contemporary art, combining Japanese painting with modern popular culture and identifying with the combative “Butō-ha” position of fighting through painting.
Tenmyouya’s importance lies in his ability to make traditional Japanese visual codes feel aggressive, current and culturally unstable. Samurai armour, gold grounds, dragons, tattoo imagery, manga sensibility, street culture and social satire often coexist in his work. This poster is a concise example of that approach: a traditional-looking gold-ground image that is actually a sharp contemporary intervention into international football culture.
The Artwork
The original artwork is listed by Mizuma Art Gallery as 蹴球之図, 2004, executed in acrylic paint, wood, black gesso and gold leaf, measuring 88.2 × 66.2 cm, with the credit “Hisashi Tenmyouya, Football 2004, Japan” and ©2005 FIFA.
The poster reproduces the painting as a large-format official art poster. Against a printed gold-leaf-style ground, two samurai in elaborate battle armour play football. One figure, wearing a black shirt with the number 10, is shown low to the ground, bracing defensively; the other, in full armour and a dramatic horned helmet, controls the ball with theatrical precision. At upper right, a blue-and-pink dragon curls around a vertical title cartouche reading 蹴球之図, with 天明屋尚筆 identifying Tenmyouya as the artist.
The image is immediately memorable because it refuses the usual clean, corporate language of sports design. Instead, it stages the World Cup as a clash of samurai theatre, martial pose, football comedy and contemporary pop iconography. In our opinion, it is one of the strongest and most original designs produced for any World Cup art-poster programme: instantly legible, culturally specific, witty, and visually powerful.
Design Notes
Gold-ground composition: the printed gold field evokes Japanese folding screens and gold-leaf painting while giving the poster a strong contemporary decorative force.
Samurai footballers: Tenmyouya transforms the modern football match into a stylized battle scene. The armour is detailed and historically referential, but the action is comic and modern.
Number 10 motif: the player wearing 10—traditionally the creative fulcrum of a football side—is shown down low, defending and scrambling for possession. Japanese commentary on the work has noted the humour of this reversal.
Dragon cartouche: the upper-right title panel, wrapped by a vivid blue dragon, gives the poster the structure of a classical Japanese image while keeping the work firmly in Tenmyouya’s world of exaggerated, contemporary “warrior” aesthetics.
Official FIFA presentation: the lower margin carries the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 emblem and the printed details “ART POSTER / HISASHI TENMYOUYA / JAPAN / FOOTBALL / 2004,” with the manufacturer line “Manufactured under licence by Brands United GmbH, Berlin. Printed in Germany.”
Text / Poster Details
Key printed details visible on the poster:
FIFA WORLD CUP GERMANY 2006
— Official tournament emblem and event identification.
ART POSTER
— Identifies the sheet as part of the official art-poster programme.
HISASHI TENMYOUYA — JAPAN — FOOTBALL — 2004
— Artist, country, title and artwork date.
Manufactured under licence by Brands United GmbH, Berlin. Printed in Germany.
— Official production / licensing line.
©2005 FIFA
— FIFA copyright line printed along the left edge.
蹴球之図
— Shūkyū no Zu, “Football” or “Picture of Football.”
天明屋尚筆
— “Painted by Hisashi Tenmyouya.”
Why Collectors Prize This Example
• Official FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 art poster: not a decorative modern reprint, but an official licensed art-poster issue connected to the 2006 tournament.
• Japan’s official artist contribution: Tenmyouya was the Japanese artist selected for the 2006 FIFA art-poster project, giving the sheet strong national and cultural significance within the series.
• Important contemporary artist: Tenmyouya is internationally recognized for Neo-Nihonga, his contemporary reinterpretation of Japanese painting, warrior imagery and cultural symbolism.
• Exceptional visual design: the samurai-football concept, gold ground, dragon cartouche and number-10 figure make this one of the most memorable images from the 2006 art-poster programme.
• Large-format display presence: at approximately 66 × 97 cm, it has far greater impact than a standard B2 poster and reads equally well as sports memorabilia, contemporary art ephemera and Japanese design.
Condition Report
Overall condition: Excellent, unrestored.
The poster presents extremely well, with strong colour, a rich gold printed field, crisp linework and excellent display impact. The samurai figures, dragon cartouche, football and FIFA lower margin all remain sharp and visually impressive.
Condition details: the sheet shows light handling wear consistent with age and storage, including minor surface waviness, small pressure marks, soft creases and light edge / corner handling. The white lower margin shows some faint creasing and small surface marks visible in the close-up photographs.
Please review the provided photos, including the front, back and close-up images, as they show the exact poster offered.
It is an original official FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 Art Poster, not a modern reproduction or decorative reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
