2021 (The 3rd year of Reiwa), Gold-younger x Ox

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Left: An illust. in “One hundred beauties at famous spots in Edo: Koishikawa Ushi-Tenjin” by Kunisada Utagawa 1857. Duplicated from: https://ja.ukiyo-e.org/image/metro/025-C001-035,

Right: The ox-shaped rock which Yoritomo of Genji saw in his dream (Photographed by M. Iguchi, 27/07/2020).
 
 

A pair of ox statues which guard the hall of Kitano Shrine–Ushi Tenjin (Photographed by M. Iguchi, 27/07/2020).
Legend (from the signboard in the precinct of Kitano Shrine): In the spring of 1184, the 3rd Year of Juei Era, when General Lord Yoritomo of Genji was waiting for the calm of the sea on the estuary near-by during his cam-paign to the north-east Japan, Godly Michizane Suga-wara on the back of a divine ox appeared in his dream and told him he would have two fortunes. When he awoke, beside him was a rock which resembled the ox. In fact a son, Yori-ie was born in autumn and the archenemy Heike was defeated next year to restore peace. Then, Lord Yoritomo built this Tenjin Shrine for Godly Sugawara and contributed a land in the 1st Year of Genryaku Era (1185).

Left:Front view of the Ushitenjin Shrine.
Right: The board for the legend ofthe shrine.

 Left: The sacred cleyera tree. Aged over 100 years.

Right: Memorial for Utako Nakajima, a famous Poet. The poem said, "Bamboo in the snow. I think over the light of the year when the bamboo spread the root underthe snow and shoots new stalks."

Edo Bay in the Age of Doukan Oota (Mid-15th Century). Drawn on CorelDRAW with reference to a panel shown in the National Archive Exhibition on “Doukan Oota and Edo”(http://kdx220k.blogspot.com/2018/02/).

At that time, estuaries were much deeper than today as the land reclamations were yet to be done, so that boats were able to go upward even to the area of Ushitenjin.

The view of the Ushitenjin Shrine, the ox-shaped rock and Suwa-Myojin Shrine, in Gesshin Saito, Illustrated Edo Famous Spots, Vol.4, 1836. Duplicated from: https://jinjamemo.com/archives/ushitenjinkitanojinja.html.
Now, one ascends the stone stairs at “The rear gate” in the left-hand side picture, as the main stone stairs in the right-hand side have been demolished. The ox-shaped rock, which is now located in the precinct on the hilltop, had originally existed to the left of “The rear gate”, seen at the far end of the picture. In the precinct was an archery game place. Behind the approach was a red-light zone.

  “One hundred beauties at famous spots in Edo: Koishikawa Ushi-Tenjin” by Kunisada Utagawa 1857. Duplicated from: https://ja.ukiyo-e.org/image/metro/025-C001-035.   

2020 (The 2nd year of Reiwa), Gold-elder x Rat

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(1) (2) (3)

(1) Front of Daikoku Shrine, annexed to Ootoyo Shrine, Shikagatani-MIyanomae, Kyoto; (2) and (3) Mouse statues. Photographed 2018.10.10.

Kojiki (lit. Old records) said, when Lord Ookuninushi who met and immediately married Lady Suseri was tried by the latter’s father Lord Susano-wo and surrounded by grass-fire, a flock of mice guided him into an underground hole for safety. The mouse statues on the left- and right-hand sides hold a bottle of sake (long-life medicine) and a scroll (knowledge), resp.

(1) (2)

(1) Front gate of Shoju-san Fukusouji Temple, Horinouchi, Suginami, Tokyo. Photo 2019.2.13.; (2) Mouse statues in front of the hall.   Photographed 2017.3.24.

Daikokuten in Esotericism originates from the Hindu god of Darkness, Mahakala. Daikoku was phonetically syncretised in Japanese with Ookuni. In this temple, mice unusually mount on rice-bags instead of Daikokuten. Three bags of rice would have represented the neces-sity for one person one year..

(1) (2)

(1) Daikokuten statue of Shoju-san Fukusouji Temple (not open to the public). Duplicated from: http://www.city.suginami.tokyo.jp/_res/projects/default_project/_page_/001/031/586/75.pdf;  (2) Ookuninushi statue in Sugiyama Shrone, Tobe, Yokohama. The statue sits on the pile of three rice-bag. Donated by Actor Toshio Kurosawa. Photographed 2019.2.7.

The details can be referred to the following article of this Homepage:

[History of Java] → I. Guardians of Temples and Shrines → 4. Lion Gatekeeper Statues → (5)  Statues of wild boars, tigers, mice and foxes at temples and shrines in Japan.

2019 (The 31th year of Heisei), Earth-younger x Wild Boar

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Left: A part of Bears on the rocks with wisteria and a wild boar in the thicket of bush clover (a pair of 6-fold screens) by Gyokusen Mochidzuki, dedicated to celebrate the enthronement of Emperor Meiji. Photo taken at Tokyo National Museum through glass window, 8th November 2017.

Buddhist Monk Kenko Yoshida wrote in his Tsuredzure-gusa (Essays in Idleness, 1331-2 AD) that even the ferocious wild boar sounds gentle when poets speak of “the couch of the sleeping boar”, remembering the poem of Lady Izumi, “Whilst wild boar is said to sleep sound on the couch of trampled karumo, I couldn’t sleep well even were I not in this situation (1007 AD)*”. Karumo meant withered grass. People of later times imagined bush clover would match wild boar better, as painted by Gyokusen Mochidzuki and other artists and illustrated in the flower-playing cards. 

   *) My trial translation. The year was assumed from the fact that this poem was allegedly composed in sorrow for the death of Prince Atsumichi (1007 AD) with whom Lady Izumi bore a son (Prince Iwakura) in the previous year.

Right: A piece of card from the set of 48, custom made for Baron Hirobumi Itō in the early Meiji Era by Ōishi-Tengudo Co. (Replica).

The photograph of "A wild boar in the thicket of bush clover" has been reproduced for the Lunar New Year in the "Art History Stroll" page of The Institute of Art Studies, National Central University, Taiwan, as permission to duplicate the image requested by the editor was gratefully granted.
 

Terracotta figures of dog (centre) and various items unearthed from the 6th century mounds in North-Kanto area.

Seeing them in The Tokyo National Museum - Heisei Pavilion, I thought over the life and art of ancient people (Photograph taken 08/11/2017).

2017 (The 29th year of Heisei), Fire-younger x Fowl 

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Partridge Cochin painted by Princess Kiko of Akishino.

Painted by HIH Princess Kiko of Akishino for his husband’s book, HIH Prince Fumihito of Akishino et al. Illustrated Encyclopaedia of European Poultry, Heibonsha Publ., Tokyo 1994. Duplicated from the appended postcard. According to the Molecular-phylogenetic study of fowls by HIH Prince Fumihito of Akishino (PhD 1996), the progenitor of all poultry was Red Junglefowl (Gallus gallus) that distributed in the northern area of Southeast Asia, as originally speculated by Charles Darwin, and in the domestication process the crossbreeding by human hands was heavily involved rather than the mutation in nature. Respectfully.

2016 (The 28th year of Heisei), Era. Fire-elder x Monkey

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Female Gorilla, an insert in Alfred Russel Wallace’s book

Alfred Russel Wallace wrote on the top of his book, The Malay Archipelago: The land of the bird of paradise, London 1869, “To Charles Darwin, Author of Origin of Species, I dedicate this book, Not only as a token of personal esteem and friendship, But also to express my deep admiration for his genius and his works.” Did they tell us into what species Homo sapience will evolve in the distant future?

2015 (The 27th year of Heisei), Wood-younger x Sheep 

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Tribute of sheep, a relief on the wall of Apadana Palace, Persepolis, Persia. Image from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/48028519@N05/14288410559.

The sheep farming would have been originated at Mesopotamia. In the Old Testament - Genesis 4 is said, “And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bares his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

2011 (The 23rd Year of Heisei), Gold-younger x Hare

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One of the Prambanan Motifs (with hare) that decorated the wall of the basement of Candi Siwa in Prambanan, Central Java.

Whilst Kayon (tree of life) and the pair of birds at the upper corners are common, the animals under the tree are various, e.g., human-face birds, ducks, sheep, dears, etc., besides hares in this particular example. Photograph taken February 2012.

2010 (The 22nd Year of Heisei), Gold elder x Tiger

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Balinese tiger and tigress, Panthera Tigris balica (stuffed), held by Bogor Zoological Museum.

Photographed October 2007 with Permission.

The smallest tiger of eight subspecies known in the world, the sizes for male and female of this species are 2.2 and 2.0 metres, respectively, including the tail. Said to have extincted around 1937. This is only one good specimen as other specimens only held in British Museum are some peltries and sculls. Among two other sub species indigenous to Indonesia, Javan tiger is said to have become extinct in 1970s, although an eyewitness of a tigress with cubs from a villager in East Java was heard in 2009. As to Sumatran Tiger, a population of several hundred is estimated to inhabit in the protected area, besides held in zoological gardens.

2009 (The 21st Year of Heisei), Earth-younger x Ox

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Statues of Nandi (Shiva’s vehicle) and Vishnu and a flat stone with a stone inscriptions of Old Sundanese characters found in the Tropical Botanical Gardens, Bogor, West Java. Photograph taken September 2006.

The sculptures are said to have been discovered at Kotabaru located 4 km south to the city centre and carried here by Dr. Friederich, a famous linguist, or Dr. Reinwaldt, the founder of the Garden and the inscriptions read. “Not far from here is a lake”, as a lake does exists. I would speculate that the sculptures were of the time of Pajajaran Kingdom (1482-1579), the capital of which, Pakuan, was located near-by, and that the stone inscription was made just for fun by provided  Drd. Friederich and Reinwaldt, or one of them.

2008 (The 20th Year of Heisei), Earth-elder x Rat

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One of the 15 panels on the south gate of the Natural History Museum, London, depicting Black Mice: Mus rattus (Original drawing).

Both the exterior and the interior of the museum buildings constructed in 1881 in the heyday of the Victorian Era are ornamented with a great number of terracotta-made reliefs and sculptures of various animals and plants. (Colin Cunningham, The terracotta designs of Alfred Waterhouse, Wiley Academy, Chichester 2001)

2007 (The 19th Year of Heisei), Fire-younger x Boar 

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One of the colour paintings, Wild boar, on the ceiling of Altamira Caves. Early Style IV, 12,000-14,000 BC, The original size: 6.3 inches.

A cave painting of wild boar is said to be very rare and only in Altamira. Duplicated from: Andre Leroi-Gourhan (Author),‎ Norbert Guterman (Transl.), Treasures in Prehistoric Art, Harry N. Abrams, New York 1967.

2006 (The 18th Year of Heisei), Fire-elder x Dog

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Foo Dogs (Happy dogs) - Guardian Lion Pair.

Ivory, Height: 12.8, Width 6.5, Depth 6.0 (cm). Duplicated from: http://www.buddhamuseum.coｍ

2005 (The 17th Year of Heisei), Wood-younger x Cock 

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"Old pine tree and white fowls" by Jakuchu Ito (1776), held by the Imperial House.

Duplicated from: Hiroyuki Ito, Amazing pictures of animals and plants by Jakuchu Ito, Shogakkan 2002

2004 (The 16th Year of Heisei), Wood-elder x Monkey

A Picture of Monkey (a collection of Tokyo National Museum).

A legend has it that the painting painted by Mao Song, a Southern Song artist, was presented to Gakujo of Manjuin Temple by Shingen Takeda. There is an episode that, to the comment of the Present Emperor, “This monkey must be a Japanese monkey!”, an authoritative historian prepared a queer answer, “A Japanese monkey was sent to Southern Song to request to paint the picture”, and presented it to the Emperor. From: Yoshinobu Tokugawa, Troubles: Notes of a director of a museum, Tankosha 1988. The photographa has been renewed, downloaded from the Tokyo National Museum's Masterpiece Gallery (web).

2003 (The15th Year of Heisei), Water-younger x Seep 

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"Picture of Sheep", by Ougyo Maruyama (from his Eleven horary signs).