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Source Description
Elephants are not native to Japan, but live animals were brought to Japan by foreign traders at least twice during the Edo period. In the early 18th century, an elephant being taken from the port of Nagasaki to the military capital of Edo had an audience with the emperor in Kyoto. However, elephants were known to most Japanese people through woodblock prints. On the kozuka, the elephant is depicted in copper with gold highlights. The background has a pattern that resembled tree bark.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
21774
label
Kozuka with an Elephant
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
21774
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Kozuka with an Elephant
description
Elephants are not native to Japan, but live animals were brought to Japan by foreign traders at least twice during the Edo period. In the early 18th century, an elephant being taken from the port of Nagasaki to the military capital of Edo had an audience with the emperor in Kyoto. However, elephants were known to most Japanese people through woodblock prints. On the kozuka, the elephant is depicted in copper with gold highlights. The background has a pattern that resembled tree bark.
provenance
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
19th century (Edo)
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Arms & Armor
kozuka
sword components
handles
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensionsRaw
3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm) (l.)
Source extras
cul
Japanese
inscriptions
none
med
copper, gold
creator_ids
6194
collection_ids
JMA
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
3937896f2c9c6421
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
fed071a3f6ef9426
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no