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Source Description
At the lower right of the tsuba, a dog sits among reeds with a skull and a skeleton. A full moon breaks through clouds at the upper right. This scene is a traditional reference to the noh play "Kayoi Komachi" (The Nightly Courting of Komachi). Ono no Komachi was a 9th-century poet. In the play, her spirit and the spirit of her suitor, Fukakusa no Shôshô, appear to a priest. The priest deduces that one of the ghosts is Ono no Komachi because the ghost makes a reference to her poem about pampas grass growing through a skull. On the back, the straw hat at the lower left is an allusion to a legend about Ariwara no Narihira finding Komachi's skull while he was traveling.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
14749
label
Tsuba Referring to the Noh Play ""Kayoi Komachi""
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
14749
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Tsuba Referring to the Noh Play ""Kayoi Komachi""
description
At the lower right of the tsuba, a dog sits among reeds with a skull and a skeleton. A full moon breaks through clouds at the upper right. This scene is a traditional reference to the noh play "Kayoi Komachi" (The Nightly Courting of Komachi). Ono no Komachi was a 9th-century poet. In the play, her spirit and the spirit of her suitor, Fukakusa no Shôshô, appear to a priest. The priest deduces that one of the ghosts is Ono no Komachi because the ghost makes a reference to her poem about pampas grass growing through a skull. On the back, the straw hat at the lower left is an allusion to a legend about Ariwara no Narihira finding Komachi's skull while he was traveling.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1866 (Edo)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Arms & Armor
tsubas
sword components
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensionsRaw
3 5/16 in. (8.4 cm)
Source extras
cul
Japanese
inscriptions
[Date] 慶應二丙寅南呂; [Transliteration] Keio ni hi-no-e tora nanro Unno Moritoshi kore o kizamu; [Translation] Eighth month in the second year of Keio (1866)
the year of the Tiger; [Signature] 海野盛壽刻之; [Transliteration] Keio ni hi-no-e tora nanro/Unno Moritoshi kore o kizamu; [Translation] This was engraved by Unno Moritoshi
med
copper, gold, silver
creator_ids
5761
collection_ids
JMA
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
bdb7ab1a2cf52ed9
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
4f718d65f8105761
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
7915f6228cafe329
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no