3-211 (original number), 4-371 (original number), and 5-348 (original number)
Accession number:
Acc.2384
Description:
Netsuke: kagami-buta form. Kappa standing under full moon, carrying clam on a tray. 4.1 cm.
Donor:
Estate of Geraldine C. and Kernan Robson
Collection place:
Japan
Culture or time period:
Japanese
Collector:
Geraldine C. Robson
Collection date:
before 1940
Materials:
Ivory (material) and Metal
Object type:
ethnography
Object class:
Netsukes
Function:
2.2 Personal Adornments and Accoutrements
Accession date:
1968
Context of use:
Toggle to be attached to the end of a cord and thrust through the sash of a kimono for the support of a purse, pouch or lacquer box.
Department:
Asia (except western Russia)
Dimensions:
height 4.1 centimeters
Comment:
Kagami Buta, of Kappa standing, in the light of the Autumn mood, with a clam shell on a tray. They most always have this shell as an illusion to their river and warer life. The are composite creatures-- a monkey head, a tortoise body, and the legs of frog. In the head, there is a saucer-like hollow, which holds their life-fluid. They are very ferocious, and will crunch you to death, but if you contrive to bow to them several times, you may defeat them because they are punctilious and return each of your bows, losing in each curtsy, some of the life-fluid as the stoop.