Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Tsuka with Dragon, Chokaro, and Mules
(Japanese Military Armor)
The kashira on the end shows a rain dragon wrapped around a sword. This iconography is associated with the Buddhist figure Kôbô Daishi (also known as Kûkai; 774-834) who was said to have used such a sword to bring rain at the end of a drought. One menuki is in the shape of the Taoist immortal Chokaro (Ch. Zhang Guo [Chang Kuo]) holding a gourd. The other is in the shape of two mules. Chokaro had a magic mule he kept in a gourd until he needed it. The mule could carry Chokaro for thousands of miles and did not need to be fed. This is part of a mounted set.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
William T. / Henry Walters Collection, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Geographies
Japan (Place of Origin)
Measurements
L: 6 5/8 in. (16.9 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by William T. or Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
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.
51.1268.3B