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Source Description
This design is a scene from the story of Dôjôji temple. The temple bell is shown at the center of the composition. At the right are two monks holding prayer beads and praying. A woman dances at the left, holding a mallet for striking the bell. The monks at Dôjôji used the bell to hide a traveling monk who was trying to escape a woman who was pursuing him. She thought he had promised to marry her and, in her anger at his rejection of her, transformed herself into a dragon. She coiled herself around the bell and killed the hidden monk by breathing fire on the bell. In the noh and kabuki plays about the story, a dancer, who is the spirit of the jealous woman, comes to the temple to celebrate the installation of a new bell. She dances under the bell and when it falls on her she is transformed into a dragon. The dancer is shown here as a fox. Foxes were commonly thought to take the form of a beautiful woman in order to cause mischief.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
10696
label
Kozuka with the Dôjôji Temple Bell
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
10696
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Kozuka with the Dôjôji Temple Bell
description
This design is a scene from the story of Dôjôji temple. The temple bell is shown at the center of the composition. At the right are two monks holding prayer beads and praying. A woman dances at the left, holding a mallet for striking the bell. The monks at Dôjôji used the bell to hide a traveling monk who was trying to escape a woman who was pursuing him. She thought he had promised to marry her and, in her anger at his rejection of her, transformed herself into a dragon. She coiled herself around the bell and killed the hidden monk by breathing fire on the bell. In the noh and kabuki plays about the story, a dancer, who is the spirit of the jealous woman, comes to the temple to celebrate the installation of a new bell. She dances under the bell and when it falls on her she is transformed into a dragon. The dancer is shown here as a fox. Foxes were commonly thought to take the form of a beautiful woman in order to cause mischief.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1600-1631 (early Edo)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Arms & Armor
kozuka
sword components
handles
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensionsRaw
3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm) (l.)
Source extras
cul
Japanese
style
Goto School
inscriptions
[Signature]: On kozuka: 後藤光重; [Translation] Gotô Mitsushige (kao)
med
shibuichi, gold
creator_ids
6821
collection_ids
JMA
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
8f87efd9fc480fef
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
28b83db19d8be43e
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
aea82ea011045e21
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no