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Pitt Rivers Museum

1908.82.377.1

Amulet envelope stamped in red [.1], in wrapper stamped with black characters and red seal [.2]. [SM 19/09/2008]


1908.82.377.1

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Collection type
Object
Description
Amulet envelope stamped in red [.1], in wrapper stamped with black characters and red seal [.2]. [SM 19/09/2008]
Geographical reference
Cultural groups
Japanese
Person
Field collector Basil Hall Chamberlain
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
Dimensions
Height: max 109 mm, Height: max 154 mm, Width: max 22 mm, Width: max 63 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1908.82.377.1 Accession number: 1908.82.377.2 Other numbers: Chamberlain no. 252
Research and responses

Bon Koizumi, from Shimane Women's College in Matsue Japan, examined this object during a research visit in June 2006 and thought, because of the location of the shrine, that it was possibly collected by Lafcadio Hearn. Hearn, was based in this 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 2010 as: (Outside)”Gokito omamori”, amulet. (Inside) “Shirakatamefu jinja shugo”, protection by Shirakatamefu shrine, Shimane prefecture. [El.B DDF Body Arts Project 2010/2011 13/10/2010]

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. 7. [The article is written in Japanese apart from copies of correspondence between Chamberlain and Hearn]. [ZM 21/08/2008]

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