Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Tsuba with Popular Zen Hermits Kanzan and Jittoku
(Japanese Military Armor)
Kanzan (Ch. Hanshan [Hanshan]) and Jittoku (Ch. Shide [Shih Te]) are a pair of Zen eccentrics who lived at a monastery on Mt. Tendai in China during the Tang [T'ang] period (618-907). They spoke to each other in a nonsense language that no one else understood. Kanzan is always shown holding a scroll, which he is explaining to Jittoku. Here, Kanzan is on the right edge of the tsuba. Jittoku is sleeping at the bottom. Jittoku worked in the kitchen of the monastery and is usually shown with his broom. The broom is depicted on the reverse of the tsuba near the bottom. On the front, a moon is in the upper left.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
Japan (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 2 1/2 × W: 2 5/16 × D: 3/16 in. (6.4 × 5.8 × 0.4 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
51.344