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Source Description
This tsuba shows attendants of the Dragon King carrying gifts of gratitude to Fujiwara no Hidesato. The Dragon King asked Hidesato to kill the giant centipede of Mount Mikami, who was poisoning the Dragon King's underwater kingdom. Hidesato shot the centipede with an arrow, killing it. In gratitude, the Dragon King gave him a bronze bell, a never-ending bolt of silk, a pot that cooked food without fire, and a limitless bag of rice. Because of the rice, Hidesato is also known as Tawara Toda (Lord of the Rice Bag). The bell and the bag of rice can be seen in the waves on the front of this tsuba. The back of the tsuba shows waves and rocks.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
24604
label
Tsuba with the Dragon King's Gifts to Hidesato
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
24604
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Tsuba with the Dragon King's Gifts to Hidesato
description
This tsuba shows attendants of the Dragon King carrying gifts of gratitude to Fujiwara no Hidesato. The Dragon King asked Hidesato to kill the giant centipede of Mount Mikami, who was poisoning the Dragon King's underwater kingdom. Hidesato shot the centipede with an arrow, killing it. In gratitude, the Dragon King gave him a bronze bell, a never-ending bolt of silk, a pot that cooked food without fire, and a limitless bag of rice. Because of the rice, Hidesato is also known as Tawara Toda (Lord of the Rice Bag). The bell and the bag of rice can be seen in the waves on the front of this tsuba. The back of the tsuba shows waves and rocks.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
n.d.
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Arms & Armor
tsubas
sword components
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
7.9
height
7.3
depth
0.4
dimensionsRaw
3 1/8 x 2 7/8 x 1/8 in. (7.9 x 7.3 x 0.35 cm)
Source extras
cul
Japanese
inscriptions
none
med
copper alloy, gold, shakudo, silver
creator_ids
6194
collection_ids
JMA
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
43c1bb0365fefc5e
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
8e540b4f2e1f6705
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no