1908.82.264

Collection type

Object

Description

Print from the Inari shrine at Matsue with two foxes, two serpents, inscriptions and two red stamps. [SM 16/10/2008]

Long description

Print from the Inari shrine at Matsue with two foxes, two serpents, inscriptions and two red stamps. One fox is black, the other is white and between them is a red stamp. There are two serpents, one has a branch with leaves in its mouth, the other has a piece of bent ?wire or similar. Above the serpents is an octagonal red stamp with an inscription in it with inscriptions in black on either side of the octagonal stamp. [SM 14/10/2008]

Geographical reference

Japan

Asia > Eastern Asia > Japan

Honshu Shimane Prefecture Matsue

Cultural groups

Japanese

Person

Field collector (Patricio) Lafcadio (Tessima Carlos) Hearn

PRM source Basil Hall Chamberlain

Date / Period

Date made: Before 1908

Date collected

By 1908

Acquisition information

Donated: 1908

Materials and processes

Material Paper Plant, Material Ink, Material Pigment, Process Stamped, Process Printed

Dimensions

Length: max 486 mm

Object numbers

Accession number: 1908.82.264 Other numbers: Chamberlain no. 74

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]

This object was examined along with others from the Chamberlain Collection by Sekiko Matsuzaki-Petitmengin in June 2003 and 15 October 2007. She placed this object within the category of Ofuda [SM 13/10/2008]

Information given by Professor Itaru Chijiwa, Assistant Professor Seiji Hoshino (both from Kokugakuin University) and Norifumi Shimazu (Association of Shinto Shrines) during a research visit, November 2009. Snake on right is holding a key – snake on the left a cedar twig. Cedar leaves are sacred to foxes. [El.B 19/01/2010]

The imagery of the two foxes and two serpents are on all of the following in the Chamberlain collection, 1908.82.264, 300, 301, 362, 363 and 802. Itaru Chijiwa, Professor of History at Kokugakuin University in Japan, examined all of these during a research visit in March 2013 and explained: The pair of foxes are messengers of the Shinto god Inari, the serpents are shown with three bundles of rice both of these are symbols of money and wealth. These are amulets for a profitable business or good harvest. 1908.82.264, 362 and 363 are all from Matsue so Lafcadio Hearn probably collected these for Basil Chamberlain. In Glimpses of Unfamiliar Japan (1895) Hearn described ofuda from Matsue with the two foxes facing each other in a sitting position, one black and one white, each with a bunch of rice-straw in its mouth as charms against fire. Professor Chijiwa noted Hearn is the only person to associate these with protection against fire. The other three, 1908.82.300, 301 and 802 are from Kyoto. [ZM 06/03/2013]

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: Religion, Commemoration, Ornament, Figure, Religious Object, Amulet, Print, Animal Figure, Prayer Object