An image of monsters coming out of a basket, threatening an old man. An old man and an old woman were neighbors. Every evening the old man fed a sparrow that visited him. When he returned home one day he was disturbed not to see the sparrow and...
On the second floor of a Western-style building, probably the famous Rokumeikan, Japanese couples appear to be taking dancing lessons, accompanied by two pianists. The young people seem awkward in movement and intent in their expressions,...
Six women in the foreground are guards, uniformly dressed in thick black robes and protective headgear. They are responsible for protecting the Ooku evacuees whenever there is a fire or other disturbance. Several carry halberds / naginata sparks,...
figures (representations); men (male humans); dresses (garments); firefighters
A fireman (hikeshi), dressed in a heavy quilted jacket and trousers, rope sandals, and wearing a headband, holds the matoi -- a three-dimensional standard used for identification and communication -- for his brigade. A protective glove dangles from...
An image of a warrior with sword and bow and arrows in the foreground, looking back at human/demon forms dancing in the background. Minamoto no Tametomo was, like Oniwaka/Benkei (7), an extremely violent youth. By the time he was fifteen he is...
An image of a warrior with sword and bow and arrows in the foreground, looking back at human/demon forms dancing in the background. Minamoto no Tametomo was, like Oniwaka/Benkei (7), an extremely violent youth. By the time he was fifteen he is...
folk tales; women; kimonos; grasses (plants); birds (animals)
Tamamo no mae was the beautiful and learned concubine of the Emperor Toba. One evening during a banquet, the wind rose and the lights went out, and the emperor became ill. The court magician declared this the sorcerous work of the concubine, who...
A kneeling woman lifts a heavy padded cloth. She wears a gray kimono patterned with flying birds, grasses and a river and underneath this three white under robes, which show at the front and back openings of her long sleeves. Her orange obi is...