Nasu No Yoichi Shooting a Fan From the Shore in Yashima (CE 1185).

This is possibly the scene from classic literature most depicted in Japanese art. An episode in the national epic, the Heike Monogatari, describes how Nasu no Yoichi rose to the challenge of the Taira clan in Yashima. A decorated boat approached the shore, with a fan atop a long pole, and asked the Minamoto clan to shoot it down at a great distance. The shot was impossible: the archer had to ride 6 feet into the water, and the ship was bobbing in the waves. Yoichi waited for the wind to calm down and shot an arrow "twelve handbreaths and three fingers long". It pierced the red fan (red was the colour of Taira clan), to the astonishment and celebration of friends and foes.

In a story about the reversals of fortune, and the inevitable passing of all things in the fleeting world, it is remarkable that this minute of pause, this celebration of skill by both sides, has survived 9 centuries and become immortal. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend!