A Samurai Exhibition at Yale University

choi

Alexandra Wolfe, Subtle Samurai. Wall Street Journal, Mar 21, 2015
www.wsj.com/articles/samurai-swo ... -at-yale-1426861462


Note:
(a)
(i) This is an exhibition review on Samurai and the Culture of Japan's Great Peace. Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. Mar 28, 2015-Jan 3, 2016.
peabody.yale.edu/exhibits/samurai-and-culture-japans-great-peace
(A) A photo legend explains, “Samurai face guard and helmet, adorned with golden sea urchins (YPM.ANT.013329).”
(B) Another photo legend in this Web page reads, “Woodblock print showing a swordsmith and the god Inari forging a blade (YPM.ANT.144956).”

刀工
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/刀工
(section 3 逸話・伝説: 小鍛冶宗近の「小狐丸」には稲荷大明神の化身が作刀を手伝ったなどの逸話がある)

translation: There is an anecdote that the incarnation/ avatar of god Inari 稲荷 helped the making of Kokaji/ Munechika’s [sword called] Ko-gitsune-maru 小狐丸.
(ii) Simultaneously, a book is published:

Fabian Drixler, William D Fleming and Robert George Wheeler, Samurai and the Culture of Japan’s Great Peace. Yale University Press, Mar 9, 2015.

(b) Japanese English dictionary (in the order the Japanese words appear in this posting)
* 小鍛冶 【こかじ】 (h) Kokaji (alternative name of Munechika 宗近, the Heian-era swordsmith); name of noh and kabuki plays”
* 狐 【きつね】(n): "fox"
* mon 紋 【もん】 (n): "(family) crest; coat of arms"
* ha 葉 【は】 (n): "leaf"   (pronunciation softened to "ba" when placed in the middle of a (combination) word)
* a-o-i あおい 《葵》 (n): "(1) mallow (any plant of family Malvaceae); (2) (See 二葉葵) Asarum caulescens (species of wild ginger); (3) hollyhocks (genus Alcea) are part of the mallow family)"
* daimyo 大名 【だいみょう】 (n): "daimyo (Japanese feudal lord)"
* omodaka オモダカ 《沢瀉; 面高》 【おもだか】 (n): "threeleaf arrowhead (Sagittaria trifolia)"
  ^ Search images.google.com with “Sagittaria trifolia” to see what the leaf looks like.
* to 戸(P); 門 【と】 (n): "door"
* 家 【け】 (suf[fix]): "house (eg of Tokugawa); family"
* sankin kōtai 参勤交代/ 参覲交代     (defined as: living one year in Tokyo and the next year in 領地 to govern--back and forth)

choi

(c) photo legend: "The crests of two of Japan's renowned families, the Tokugawa 徳川 and the Mori, decorate this lacquer bowl, made in the early 17th century. The bowl might have celebrated a marriage between the two families."
(i) This is the Web page:
17th CENTURY LACQUERED JAPANESE FOOD BOWL. (YPM catalog no. ANT. 241835)
peabody.yale.edu/exhibits/curators-choice/17th-century-lacquered-japanese-food-bowl
(”With a lightning design in gold and silver, this lacquer food box, jikiro, was part of a wedding trousseau made early in the 17th century. After 150 years of civil war among the feudal nobles (daiymo) [sic] of various clans who ruled lands throughout the islands of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616) established his family’s control over all of Japan. Thereafter, permission of the Tokugawa was required for any marriage of a daiymo or any of his family members. This jikiro commemorates an important marriage between a daughter of the Tokugawa and a member of the Mori clan”)
(A) On this Web page, at the top horizontal bar click the black-and-white thumbnail of crests. The caption of the new page states, “The 2 families are identified by their distinctive crests or mons: the hollyhock leaves (aoi) represent the Tokugawa, and the water plantain (omodaka) represents the Mori. The 12 mons of each type on the jikiro indicate that a daughter of the Tokugawa was the bride. Such marriages, along with the policy of alternate year attendance (sankin kotai) at the capital by the daiymo of each clan, were methods by which the Tokugawa maintained political control during 250 years of peace of the Edo Period (1615–1868).
(B) The noun jikiro or jikirō does not appear in Jim Breen’s online Japanese dictionary. However, if one googles with its corresponding kanji 食籠--or hiragana: じきろ or じきろう (the latter signals a long vowel, as in jikirō), (s)he will see.
(ii) 三つ葉葵
ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/三つ葉葵
(丸に三つ葉葵と徳川葵は、「丸」と「茎」とする部分が一体であるものとして区別することがある)

translation: The Tokugawa aoi is three-leaf aoi within a circle, which doubles as the stem [where the leaves grow]
(iii) 毛利長門家沢潟  もうりながとけおもだか (pronounced "mōri nagato ke omodaka")
家紋市場, undated.
x181.secure.ne.jp/~x181007/kamon/shop/06808.html

* A branch of the 毛利 clan (or House 家 of 毛利) ruled Nagato Province 長門国.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagato_Province

Because it is a long vowel for "o," the surname is 毛利. (When it is a short vowel for "o," the surname (for "mori") is 森.)

(d) Another photo legend: “This shojo mask, likely from the 17th century, has the design of a friendly young man. The red color suggests how fond the shojo-a mythological water sprite--is of drinking.”

shōjō  猩々
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shōjō
(a kind of Japanese sea spirit with red face and hair and a fondness for alcohol; The Chinese characters are also a Japanese (and Chinese) word for orangutan; Mythical creatures named "shēng shēng" (狌狌) or "xīng xīng" (猩猩) are mentioned in three passages of the Shan Hai Jing 山海经)