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,
Yoshitsune and Benkei at Gojō Bridgefront

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

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Yoshitsune and Benkei at Gojō Bridge

  • Description

    Beneath a full moon, the agile young Minamoto no Yoshitsune, trained in martial arts by the tengu demons, leaps over the warrior-monk Benkei’s halberd on the Gojō Bridge in Kyoto. Benkei, who is collecting by force 1000 swords from innocent passers-by, has met his match. He has managed to remove Yoshitsune’s white silk overgarment used as a disguise, but cannot defeat the youth. Benkei was so impressed with the young warrior, that he swore allegiance to Yoshitsune and they remained inseparable until death. This scene is also depicted on the netsuke EA2001.51.

  • Details

    show all
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kyōto prefecture › Kyoto › Gojō bridge (subject)
    Date
    published 1881
    Artist/maker
    Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839 - 1892) (designer)
    Associated people
    Morimoto Junzaburō (1861 - 1923) (publisher)
    Benkei (1155 - 1189) (subject)
    Minamoto no Yoshitsune (1159 - 1189) (subject)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print, with bokashi (tonal gradation)
    Dimensions
    mount 55.5 x 84.5 cm (height x width)
    print 35 x 70.3 cm sight size (height x width)
    Material index
    processed material › paper
    Technique index
    printed › relief print › woodcut › colour woodcut
    Object type index
    visual representation › print › triptych print
    No. of items
    3
    Credit line
    Presented by Christ Church College, University of Oxford, 1983.
    Accession no.
    EA1983.67

  • 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. 236 fig. 62

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 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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