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Source Description
Seated at the lower right is Kikujidô (the Chrysanthemum Boy). He holds a brush in his right hand, chrysanthemum leaves in his left hand, and is surrounded by blooming chrysanthemums. He would write on chrysanthemum leaves and drop them into the stream. Kikujidô was an attendant to a 10th-century BC Chinese emperor Muh Wang. Rivals forced his exile due to a minor transgression. The emperor taught him a magical sentence from the historical Buddha to protect Kikujidô from harm. He wrote this phrase on chrysanthemum leaves that floated down the river back to civilization. Water that washed the writing off the leaves became an elixir of everlasting youth. The stream that ran through Kikujidô's place of exile is on the back of the tsuba.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
15886
label
Tsuba with Kikujidô (the Chrysanthemum Boy) Writing on Leaves
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
15886
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Tsuba with Kikujidô (the Chrysanthemum Boy) Writing on Leaves
description
Seated at the lower right is Kikujidô (the Chrysanthemum Boy). He holds a brush in his right hand, chrysanthemum leaves in his left hand, and is surrounded by blooming chrysanthemums. He would write on chrysanthemum leaves and drop them into the stream. Kikujidô was an attendant to a 10th-century BC Chinese emperor Muh Wang. Rivals forced his exile due to a minor transgression. The emperor taught him a magical sentence from the historical Buddha to protect Kikujidô from harm. He wrote this phrase on chrysanthemum leaves that floated down the river back to civilization. Water that washed the writing off the leaves became an elixir of everlasting youth. The stream that ran through Kikujidô's place of exile is on the back of the tsuba.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1825-1891 (late Edo-Meiji)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Arms & Armor
tsubas
sword components
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
7.6
height
6.8
depth
0.4
dimensionsRaw
3 x 2 11/16 x 3/16 in. (7.6 x 6.75 x 0.43 cm)
Source extras
cul
Japanese
inscriptions
[Signature] 金龍斎 秀国; [Translation] Kinryusai/Hidekuni (kao)
med
shibuichi, copper and gold
creator_ids
5260
collection_ids
JMA
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
4b4e4651f67fd889
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
cfc0c8f266fa918a
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
a8b6cdcc6128232d
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no