Passed
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Description
13" (33 cm.) Depicted like a seated general dressed in the simple attire of a yamabushi mountain ascetic with head, hands and feet covered in a lightly red pigmented gofun, face with long nose, very large carved eyes, facial creases, light colored bushy eyebrows, long chin beard and hair in a simple topknot topped by a tokin small cap worn by the yamabushi. Wearing subtle silk robes including an unadorned chirimen silk crepe outer robe belted at the waist over plain weave blue silk inner kimono tucked into white silk hakama trousers that are drawn in at the ankles exposing long-toed feet with nails, with signature carved wooden feather fan in his left hand with lacquered and painted decorations. Fading of textiles. Late Edo/Early Meiji Era, mid-19th century. Exhibited Japan Society (1996). Published Ningyo: The Art of the Human Figure, p. 57. Tengu were long-nosed mountain demons. Sojobo was king of the Tengu, known for his fighting skills, and had in his possession a scroll containing the ultimate secrets of warfare. In the myths surrounding the life of Minamoto Yoshitsune (1159-1189) it is said that as a youth he was trained by Sojobo and that is how he became such a brilliant military leader.