|
Date: |
|
Description: | Sword guard, called a tsuba, made of iron, marugata (round shape). Decorated withe the figure of TEKKAI a SENNIN, one of the eight Immortals of Taoist legend, shown with his iron staff. In Chinese legend he was a a handsome young man called Li, who had been taught all of the mysteries of Taoism by Lao Tsze himself. His spirit was called to Heaven by Lao Tsze to discuss some of the points of that religion and he left instructions that if his body had not been reoccupied by his spirit within seven days, it should be burned. The disciple charged with looking after Li's body had to leave after six days because his mother was ill, leaving Li's body unattended. When his spirit returned he could not re-enter his own body and had to occupy that of an old crippled beggar, lying dead at the roadside nearby. He then became Tekkai, an old ugly man with an iron staff. The scene on this tsuba looks like a man blowing out his breath, but actually we are seeing Li's spirit re-entering the body of the old beggar.
Technique: pierced
Technique: chiselled
Material: metal
Material: iron
iron tsuba, maragata
reverse of iron tsuba | Source: | Manchester City Galleries | Identifier: | mcag.emu.ecatalogue.26427 | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
The Beggar
Once attributed to the seventeenth-century…
-
-
-
-
tsuba
Sword guard, called a tsuba,…
-
-
-
tsuba
Sword guard, called a tsuba,…
-
tsuba
Sword guard, called a tsuba,…
-
tsuba
Sword guard, called a tsuba,…
|