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Source Description
The earthquake-fish ("namazu") is a large catfish with a body that resembles an eel. It was thought to live underneath the Japanese islands and cause earthquakes by its movements. The god Kadori Myôjin was thought to rub it with a gourd to help keep it quiet. The kozuka shows two figures with gourds attending to the earthquake-fish.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
32410
label
Kozuka with Kadori Myôjin and the Earthquake-fish
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
32410
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Kozuka with Kadori Myôjin and the Earthquake-fish
description
The earthquake-fish ("namazu") is a large catfish with a body that resembles an eel. It was thought to live underneath the Japanese islands and cause earthquakes by its movements. The god Kadori Myôjin was thought to rub it with a gourd to help keep it quiet. The kozuka shows two figures with gourds attending to the earthquake-fish.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1586-1683 (Muromachi-Edo)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Arms & Armor
kozuka
sword components
handles
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensionsRaw
3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm) (l.)
Source extras
cul
Japanese
style
Goto School
inscriptions
[Signature] On kozuka: 後藤顯乘; [Translation] Gotô Kenjô
med
shakudo, details of gold, silver and copper
creator_ids
16328
collection_ids
JMA
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
ac0d52b8a7f3a83b
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
2617c3373092adfd
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
c9f8ca6676ec15da
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no