Passed
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Description
23" (58 cm.) Musha-ningyo set for the May 5th Boy's Day display depicting Jingu Kogo (Empress Jingu), her vassal Takenouchi no Sukune holding the baby Ojin and a bannerman, The 3rd century empress/shaman, with okymayu skybrows, long silk fiber hair gathered into a single braid down the back, depicted in full military array with lacquered paper armor with silk lacing and metal fittings including a large chrysanthemum boss on her breastplate, wearing rich silk brocade textiles, black velvet accents. tall gold lacquered eboshi court cap, and with a long sword at hip, arrow quiver, a Chinese-style gumbai battle fan in her right hand and a long bow with detached string from which is suspended a papier-mache fish. mounted on lacquered wood stand, Takenouchi is depicted as a wizened old man with deeply creased features, white silk hair, mustache and long chin beard, posed kneeling as he cradles the baby Ojin in his arms; while the bannerman, with an exceptionally well-rendered face, is also depicted kneeling. Signs of wer and fading to textiles. Edo Period, 19th century, Exhibited Japan Society (1996), Mingei International Museum (2005). Published Ningyo: The Art of the Human Figure, p.55 and Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll, p. 146-147. The legend of Jingu Kogo is a complex one and plays deep into Japan's sense of nationalism Jingu Kogo is one of the few female figures to be included in the Boy's Day pantheon. Although the group typically features Jingu and Takenouchi holding the baby Ojin (to whom Jingu gave birth after delaying the pregnancy 19 months so that she could successfully complete her conquest of Korea), here there is the additional element of the fish which refers to Jingu as shaman using the catching of fish to augur the success of her ventures to Korea.