Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Tales in the Round: Manjū Netsuke and Japanese Woodblock Prints

(from 30th Apr until 22nd Sep 2013)

Discover dramatic episodes from Japanese culture in these exquisitely carved objects and prints.

Detail of a manju netsuke depicting Minamoto Yoshitsune practising martial arts with a tengu demon,
The Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Foxfront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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The Golden-Haired Nine-Tailed Fox

  • Description

    Tamamo no Mae was the beautiful mistress of an ailing emperor. When she was transformed into a ninetailed fox, a strange aura of light radiated around her. She fled the emperor’s palace to Nasu Moor and was killed by an archer, again transforming – this time into a poisonous stone. The demon in her was finally exorcised by the Buddhist priest Gennō.

    Hiroshige has based the design of this print on a kabuki performance. This story became popular in kabuki and bunraku (puppet) theatres in Edo in the nineteenth century. Tamamo no Mae is also depicted on the netsuke EA2001.101.

  • Details

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    Associated place
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    c. 1850
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Hiroshige I (1797 - 1858) (designer)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print
    Dimensions
    mount 55.7 x 40.7 cm (height x width)
    sheet 39.5 x 27 cm (height x width)
    print 37.8 x 25.9 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    printed › relief print › woodcut › colour woodcut
    Object type index
    visual representation › print
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Presented by Mrs Allan and Mr and Mrs H. N. Spalding, 1952.
    Accession no.
    EAX.4245

  • Further reading

    Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 23 April-22 September 2013, Manjū: Netsuke from the Collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Joyce Seaman, ed. (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2013), illus. p. 199 fig. 57

Glossary (3)

bunraku, netsuke, nishiki-e

  • bunraku

    Bunraku is traditional Japanese puppet theatre.

  • netsuke

    The netsuke is a form of toggle that was used to secure personal items suspended on cords from the kimono sash. These items included purses, medicine cases or tobacco paraphernalia.

  • nishiki-e

    Nishiki-e literally means 'brocade pictures' and refers to multi-coloured woodblock prints.

Past Exhibition

see (1)

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Notice

Objects from past exhibitions may have now returned to our stores or a lender. Click into an individual object record to confirm whether or not an object is currently on display. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis, so please contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular Eastern Art object.

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