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,
Lion dancer from the Nō play Shakkyōfront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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Lion dancer from the Nō play Shakkyō

  • Description

    The story tells of a monk who went to China to visit the grave of Monju Bosatsu, a disciple of the Buddha. A stone bridge over a deep precipice confronts the monk. As he is about to enter the realm of the deity, a child appears and warns him that only priests who have undergone years of rigorous religious training may cross the bridge. The child then departs, hinting that the priest should wait for something remarkable to happen. With that a lion, the vehicle of Monju Bosatsu, appears and dances amid peonies and butterflies. This scene is also depicted on the netsuke EA2001.38.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Take-offs Based on the Ogura Version of the ‘One Hundred Poems by One Hundred Poets'
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    published 1845 - 1848
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797 - 1861) (designer)
    Matsushima Fusajirō (active mid-19th century) (block cutter)
    Juntoku, Emperor of Japan (ruled 1210 - 1221) (author)
    Associated people
    Ibaya Senzaburō (active c. 1820s - c. 1870s) (publisher)
    Juntoku, Emperor of Japan (ruled 1210 - 1221) (subject)
    Muramatsu Genroku (active c. 1843 - c. 1852) (censor)
    Yoshimura Gentarō (active c. 1843 - 1859) (censor)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print, with bokashi (tonal gradation)
    Dimensions
    mount 55.5 x 40.2 cm (height x width)
    sheet 35 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.
    EA1971.130

  • 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), no. 156 fig. 48

Glossary (2)

netsuke, nishiki-e

  • 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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