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.
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
netsuke, nishiki-e
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 literally means 'brocade pictures' and refers to multi-coloured woodblock prints.
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.
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