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Pitt Rivers Museum

1908.82.73

Wooden amulet for curing bad eye sight, covered in paper with a stamped inscription. [SM 20/04/2009]


1908.82.73

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Wooden amulet for curing bad eye sight, covered in paper with a stamped inscription. [SM 20/04/2009]
Geographical reference
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1908
Date collected
By 1908
Acquisition information
Donated: 1908
Materials and processes
Material Wood Plant, Material Paper Plant, Material Ink, Material Pigment, Process Stamped
Dimensions
Width: max 40 mm, Length: max 180 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1908.82.73 Other numbers: Chamberlain no. 269
Research and responses

Bon Koizumi, from Shimane Women's College in Matsue Japan, during a research visit in June 2006 examined this object and thought, because of the location of the shrine, that it was possibly collected by Lafcadio Hearn. Hearn, was based in the area, and was asked by Chamberlain to collect material for him from this region. [ZM 09/06/2006]

See Collectors: Chamberlain in related documents file for information about Lafcadio Hearn. [ZM 12/09/2006]

The inscription on this object was transcribed and translated by Fusa McLynn who volunteered at the Museum in 2009 as: “Ichibata yakushi nyorai shugo” - Protection from Ichibata yakushi nyorai. [SM 20/04/2009]

Associated publications
See researchers file 'Koizumi' for copy of an article 'Prayer Inscriptions from the Shrines of Izumo which travelled to the Seas of England' by Bon Koizumi, San-In Minzoku Kenkyu: Bulletin of San-In Folklore Society, no 13 (2008), pp. 3-25. This object is listed in a table on p. 6. [The article is written in Japanese apart from copies of correspondence between Chamberlain and Hearn]. [ZM 21/08/2008]

Search terms: Box, Religion, Ornament, Writing, Amulet, Inscription, Religious Object