PietroParis Posted January 27, 2022 Report Posted January 27, 2022 Hi All, A longish discussion has developed in the Tosogu section on the identification of a beast depicted on a Choshu tsuba. I have eventually found an illustration from a book entitled 絵本写宝袋 (Ehon shaho bukuro / Picture Book: Treasure-bag of Sketches) published in 1720 by one Tachibana Morikuni 橘守国, see this link. The animal on the right is clearly our guy. Can anyone please translate the name, which is probably given by the two boldface characters on the top-right corner of the picture? Quote
PietroParis Posted January 27, 2022 Author Report Posted January 27, 2022 Solved in the other thread: they read 獬豸Kaichi. Of course if anybody is able to translate the rest of the text please go ahead! Quote
PietroParis Posted January 28, 2022 Author Report Posted January 28, 2022 Sorry if I drag this on, I am just curious to tie a loose end. Could anybody please read for me the name of this other beast? Again, it should be the two boldface characters on the top right corner. Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted January 28, 2022 Report Posted January 28, 2022 https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/白沢_(瑞獣) But it says 沢獣 Takuju which may be another way of saying Hakutaku as it uses two of the same characters as the Wiki entry above. That is, ‘the Taku Beast’. 1 Quote
PietroParis Posted January 28, 2022 Author Report Posted January 28, 2022 Thanks Piers! that's very valuable for the Hakutaku discussion in the other thread, as it reinforces the idea that even in the Japanese literature there are two "parallel" versions of the beast (a lion-like one with just two eyes and a cow-like one with extra eyes on the sides). Quote
sabiji Posted January 28, 2022 Report Posted January 28, 2022 I think this is simply a Kirin.... 1 Quote
sabiji Posted January 28, 2022 Report Posted January 28, 2022 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Qilin.jpg Quote
PietroParis Posted January 28, 2022 Author Report Posted January 28, 2022 Hi Thomas, all of these pictures are discussed at length in the last two pages of this other thread: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/34920-a-series-of-fittings-or-how-not-to-build-a-collection/ see in particular this summary: https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/34920-a-series-of-fittings-or-how-not-to-build-a-collection/page/20/#comment-398868 The picture that you posted is not a Kirin, unless you use the term in the very wide sense of "mythical horned creature". In particular, Kirin are supposed to have hooves. Based on what transpired from the discussion in the other thread, it appears that yours is rather a 獬豸 (Xiezhi/ Kaichi). Quote
sabiji Posted January 28, 2022 Report Posted January 28, 2022 Hi Pietro, Den-Kirin it is . One of the most important sayings I learned from Micha Hagenbusch is: "there is nothing that does not exist! Even Joly writes in the "Legend" that the Chinese sources were often interpreted quite freely by Japanese artists. This, of course, makes an "academic" reappraisal quite difficult. But in fact the Hakutaku and the Kaichi are the most similar, even if they all come under the heading "Kirin" in Joly's work. 1 Quote
Bugyotsuji Posted February 15, 2022 Report Posted February 15, 2022 Saw a Kirin today. They DO exist! Quote
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