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 young nobleman Ushiwakamaru at Itahana Stationfront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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The young nobleman Ushiwakamaru at Itahana Station

  • Description

    The young warrior Ushiwakamaru, later known as Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was sent to Mount Kurama as a boy by his mother’s cruel lover, Taira no Kiyomori. There he learned the secrets of martial arts from the tengu, strange creatures who lived there under the sway of their king, Sōjōbō. Ushiwakamaru became skilled at fighting. Here he is terrifying one long-nosed tengu, who covers his face, and another winged tengu who desperately tries to protect his beak from the blows of the young hero. Minamoto no Yoshitsune is also depicted on the netsuke EA2001.108.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Sixty-nine Stations of the Kisokaidō Road
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Asia › Japan (Itahana) (subject)
    Date
    published 1852
    Edo Period (1600 - 1868)
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861) (designer)
    Associated people
    Hayashiya Shōgorō (active 1840s - 1860s) (publisher)
    Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159 - 1189) (subject)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print, with bokashi (tonal gradation)
    Dimensions
    mount 55.5 x 40.4 cm (height x width)
    print 36.2 x 24.7 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 George Grigs, Miss Elizabeth Grigs, and Miss Susan Messer, in memory of Derick Grigs, 1971.
    Accession no.
    EA1971.92

  • 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. 226 fig. 61

Glossary (3)

netsuke, nishiki-e, tengu

  • 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.

  • tengu

    Tengu are powerful mountain goblins. Two types appear in Japanese art, one with a long nose, and the other with a beak and claws. One identifying feature of both is a feathered fan.

Past Exhibitions

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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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