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,
Kintarō grappling with a snakefront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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Kintarō grappling with a snake

  • Description

    Kintarō was brought up by a mountain hermit called Yamauba. His childhood was spent amongst forest animals. One day, his extraordinary strength was noticed by the warrior Minamoto no Yorimitsu, who was so impressed that he invited Kintarō to become one of his four trusted guardians, known as the Shitennō. This scene is also depicted on the netsuke EA2001.83.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    Mirror of Warriors of Our Country
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan (place of creation)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    published 1855
    Artist/maker
    Utagawa Yoshitsuya (1822 - 1866) (designer)
    Associated people
    Tsujioka Bunsuke (active c. 1814 - 1896) (publisher)
    Sakata no Kintoki (died 1021) (subject)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print
    Dimensions
    mount 55.4 x 40.4 cm (height x width)
    print 36 x 24 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.
    EA1971.220

  • 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. 194 fig. 55

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.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum