Tsuba Referring to the Noh Play “Kayoi Komachi”
Description
English: At the lower right of the tsuba, a dog sits among reeds with a skull and a skeleton. A full moon breaks through clouds at the upper right. This scene is a traditional reference to the noh play “Kayoi Komachi” (The Nightly Courting of Komachi). Ono no Komachi was a 9th-century poet. In the play, her spirit and the spirit of her suitor, Fukakusa no Shôshô, appear to a priest. The priest deduces that one of the ghosts is Ono no Komachi because the ghost makes a reference to her poem about pampas grass growing through a skull. On the back, the straw hat at the lower left is an allusion to a legend about Ariwara no Narihira finding Komachi’s skull while he was traveling.
Date 1866 (Edo)
Medium copper, gold, silver
Dimensions 8.4 cm (3.3 in)
Collection
Walters Art Museum Blue pencil.svg wikidata:Q210081
Accession number
51.385
Place of creation Mito, Japan
Object history

Henry Walters, Baltimore [date and mode of acquisition unknown]
1931: bequeathed to Walters Art Museum by Henry Walters

Credit line Acquired by Henry Walters
Inscriptions [Date] Keio ni hi-no-e tora nanro/Unno Moritoshi kore o kizamu; [Signature] Keio ni hi-no-e tora nanro/Unno Moritoshi kore o kizamu; [Translation] Eighth month in the second year of Keio (1866), the year of the Tiger/This was engraved by Unno Moritoshi
Source Walters Art Museum: Nuvola filesystems folder home.svg Home page Information icon.svg Info about artwork

source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unno_Moritoshi_-_Tsuba_Referring_to_the_Noh_Play_%22Kayoi_Komachi%22_-_Walters_51385.jpg