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Shōki Capturing a Demon in a Dreamfront

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Shōki Capturing a Demon in a Dream

  • Description

    Shōki is known as the Demon Queller. This name arose from a story involving the eighth-century Chinese Emperor Xuanzong who, troubled by demons, had become sick. Shōki appeared to him in a dream and demonstrated that he could quell the demons. He explained to the emperor that after failing his civil examinations he had committed suicide in shame. His way of helping the nation was to rid it of these malicious creatures. The Emperor was so relieved that he recovered and restored Shōki’s honour with a full ceremonial burial. Shōki is also depicted on the netsuke EA2001.90.

  • Details

    show all
    Series
    New Forms of Thirty-six Ghosts
    Associated place
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of creation)
    Asia › Japan › Honshū › Kantō › Tōkyō prefecture › Tōkyō (place of publication)
    Date
    probably 1890
    Meiji Period (1868 - 1912)
    Artist/maker
    Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839 - 1892) (designer)
    Material and technique
    nishiki-e (multi-block) woodblock print, with bokashi (tonal gradation)
    Dimensions
    mount 55.5 x 40.3 cm (height x width)
    print 35.5 x 23.7 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.
    EA1971.186

  • 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. 20 fig. 23

Glossary (3)

Shōki, netsuke, nishiki-e

  • Shōki

    Zhong Kui, or Shōki in Japanese, is a figure from Chinese folklore who appeared to the ailing 8th century Chinese Emperor Xuanzong in a dream and dispatched the demons that were haunting him. Shōki promised the Emperor that he would rid the world of demon

  • 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 Exhibitions

see all (2)

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.

 

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum