interesting kozuka.

[historian2]

Can anyone tell me what these two figures on the kozuka represent.

Maybe they are part of some Japanese folkloar? Not signed on the back.

Erich

[Bugyotsuji]

I am guessing

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Kongming, from the Three Kingdoms of late Han, (Japanese name Shokatsu Komei)

Standing behind him could be the fiery bearded warrior Zhang Fei.)

http://www.chinavoc.com/history/three/km.htm

 

[historian2]

You could be correct maybe even liu Bei and Zhang Fei from the three kingdoms.

Erich

[Bugyotsuji]

  historian2 said:

You could be correct maybe even liu Bei and Zhang Fei from the three kingdoms.

Erich

 

Yes, the seated figure could be Lui Bei, not Kong Ming. There were three who swore an oath in the garden, but in the illustration only two left, possibly then after Lord Guan was killed? Is it the swearing of the oath and the idea of loyalty to the lord?

 

Or if they are Kong Ming and Zhang Fei, they could possibly represent the two military qualities of raw courage, and clever tactics. Since it's an illustration on a Kozuka, then the latter might make sense, as two ancient virtues for the samurai. (?)

[Guido]

I'm pretty sure the two are Guan Yu 關羽 (Japanese: Kanu) and Zhang Fei 張飛 (Japanese: Chohi), two of the "five tiger generals". They are frequently depicted in Netsuke and Okimono in Japan.

[Bugyotsuji]

Mmmm... nice finds, Guido.

[Marc BROQUIN]

Hi Guido and all,

 

I am always curious about chinese and Japanese mythology. And in order to get the answers I allways "dive" in my KOJI HOTEN from V.-F. WEBER.

 

Of course I have not verified if all is written is correct but statistically it shouldn't be bad.

 

It is said :

 

""KWAN-YU (in chinese) was a famous chinese general at the end of the second century, who has been deified in 1594 as War God under the name of KWAN-TI.

 

Originally KWAN-YU was poor and he earned first his living by selling beans in the SHAN-SI province. He devoted all his free times to the study of military sciences. He by chance encoutered LIU PEÏ (in Japanese GENTOKU) who gave him the occasion to set to work his knowledge.

 

In 184, after having taken the oath in a kind of fraternity with LIU PEÏ and CHANG FEÏ (in Japanese CHO-HI) in a peach garden belonging to the last one, KWAN-YU BECAME general and helped effectively LIU PEÏ to conquest the throne of the Shuh and to become one of the 3 emperors of China. The tradition reports that, during the quarrels preceding the enthroning of LIU PEÏ, TS'AO TS'AO tried to separate KWAN-YU from his 2 companions, and to make him suspect for LIU PEÏ.

 

Having succeeded once to capture the 2 wives of LIU PEÏ, TS'AO TS'AO (SÔ-SÔ in Japanese, famous during the 3 kingdoms war) locked them up in a house and sent KWAN-YU for guarding them during the night, expecting from the last a guilty weakness in this delicate mission. But KWAN-YU made obvious his fidelity & loyalty towards his friend LIU-PEÏ, by remaining all the night, standing in a gangway leading to the room of the 2 women, guarding the door, a lantern in the hand and a sword in the other.

 

KWAN-YU is very popular in Japanese Art. He is usually depicted as a tall chinese warrior, with determined face, and bearing a long bart which he caresses from one hand, the other hand holding a sword or a spear but more often a chinese halberd. he is often depicted with a servant behind him having a diabolic face and keeping the halberd for him.""

 

So here we are: the second character could be only his servant

I leave this approach to your comments.

Friendly yours

Marc

[reinhard]

This one might help.

 

reinhard

[Marc BROQUIN]

Hello Reinhard and all,

 

I understand you found an evidence that the second character is CHO-HI.

 

But I an still doubtful. There were five generals during the 3 kingdom war. To be a general at that time was an important position with special fastuous dresses.

 

If the second character was CHO-HI, an other general, he would be dressed with much more ostentation. But this character is allways standing behind with low class dresses.

 

This is astonishing, isn't it ?

Best

Marc

[Guido]

The "Records of Three Kingdoms" (Sānguó Zhì 三國志) is the official and authoritative historical text on the period of the Three Kingdoms from 189 to 280 that was written by Chén Shòu 陳壽 in the 3'rd century. The work collects the smaller histories of the rival states Cáo Wèi 曹魏, Shǔ Hàn 蜀漢 and Dōng Wú 東吳 of the Three Kingdoms into a single text and provided the basis for the later, more popular historical novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" (Sānguó Yǎnyì 三國演義), written by Luó Guànzhōng 羅貫中 in the 14'th century. It's one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature, with a grand total of 800,000 words, and nearly a thousand characters - most of them historical - in 120 chapters.

 

Sānguó Zhì 三國志 (Japanese: Sangoku-shi) and Sānguó Yǎnyì 三國演義 (Japanese: Sangoku Shiengi) were also very popular in Edo period Japan, especially the three famous generals Guān Yǔ 關羽 (Japanese: Kan-U), Zhāng Fēi 張飛 (Japanese: Chō-Hi) and Zhao Yun 趙雲 (Japanese: Chō-Un).

 

The Kabuki play "Kagekiyo 景清", based on the Heike Monogatari 平家物語, was staged for the first time in September 1732. The main characters are Taira no Kagekiyo 平景清 and Hatakeyama Shigetada 畠山重忠, generals of the Heike 平家 clan (see attachment # 1). In a later adaption Shigetada and Kagekiyo were substituted for Guān Yǔ and Zhāng Fēi. Substituting characters with similar sounding names and / or attributes for historical and legendary figures is a popular techique in Kabuki called Mitate 見立.

 

The third general, Zhao Yun, wasn't included in this play, thus paving the way for wood-block prints, Netsuke, lacquer work, Kodōgu and so on depicting Guān Yǔ and Zhāng Fēi as a pair.

 

Zhāng Fēi is usually described and depicted as red-haired and blue-eyed (see attachment of a Chinese painting of the three generals) - also attributes of the Nambanjin 南蛮人, "Southern Barbarians". Some Japanese artists therefore gave him the appearance of a Dutchman. He thus is often depicted in Japan in rather plain clothes and with a funny, roundish hat. It's understandable that Weber confused him for Guān Yǔ's servant.

 

 

P.S.: I used Pinyin instead of Wade-Giles for transcribing Chinese (unlike Weber who used the latter) since it's not only the standard nowadays, but also comes much closer to the actual pronounciation.

[Tanto54]

Dear Marc,

 

I’m no expert, but I was truly motivated by your research to do a little of my own. At first, I was somewhat persuaded by your Weber citation, but I found the following by Basil Stewart discussing a Hiroshige print of “Chohi”: “Chohi was distinguished by his stature, long hair, fan-like beard…” While I don’t see these characteristics in the Chohi figure in the beautiful kozuka pictures that Mr. Reinhard posted, I do see the imposing stature and fan shaped beard in the figure in the original kozuka posting. In addition, I did a little web research on the type of clothing that these 5 famous generals might wear, but it was not conclusive (appears to have become more customary and mythological instead of historically accurate). I cannot tell from the original kozuka posting if the “servant”/Chohi figure is dressed ostentatiously or not, but the figure’s dress does not appear any less ostentatious than the Chohi figure in the netsuke and okimono photos provided by Mr. Schiller (in light of the aggressive stance, the person in those two objects must be Chohi instead of a servant). To my eye, other than the halberd, the most distinctive feature of the “servant”/Chohi figure in the original kozuka posting is his hat/helment. It also looks different than the one in Mr. Reinhard’s picture, but it looks a lot like other ancient generals’ hats that I saw on line. On balance, in light of the figure’s aggressive stance in the original kozuka posting (isn’t it too aggressive for a servant?), I’d vote for Chohi instead of a servant.

 

As mentioned, I’m no expert, and my comments are based on an hour of on-line research.

 

Regards,

George M.