. Guide leaflet. Many of the dances^ of whichcountless numbers are performedin Japan, are religious in charac-ter. The subject of the tiny netsukeabove is performing Sambaso, theEarthquake Dance, said to haveoriginated early in the Ninth Cen-tury to stop the disastrous effect ofan earthquake. The mitre-like capwx)rn by the dancer is decoratedwith the red disk of the sun Raiden, the Thunder God, de-picted in this little ivory netsuke,has a distinct demonic aspect. Theface and rudimentary horns arethose of an oni, as are the two clawsthat decorate each foot, and thethree fingers on each hand. He
. Guide leaflet. Many of the dances^ of whichcountless numbers are performedin Japan, are religious in charac-ter. The subject of the tiny netsukeabove is performing Sambaso, theEarthquake Dance, said to haveoriginated early in the Ninth Cen-tury to stop the disastrous effect ofan earthquake. The mitre-like capwx)rn by the dancer is decoratedwith the red disk of the sun Raiden, the Thunder God, de-picted in this little ivory netsuke,has a distinct demonic aspect. Theface and rudimentary horns arethose of an oni, as are the two clawsthat decorate each foot, and thethree fingers on each hand. He isshown with the drum that he beatsto produce thunder. The monkey depicted in thishifihlv humorous uctsulm is lookinf*through (t mu^uijyiufi^ gitiss at unelsuko carved to represent could almost imafl^ine themonkey at which he is looking tohe hudiing at a smaller monkey.,and so on as Jar as one cares tocarry the illusion Hotei^ the most popular of theseven ^Gods of Luck among Japa-nese netsuke carvers^ is alwaysrepresented., as in the example he-low., with a superabundance offleshy and a very winning ^ his generously extensivestomach Jurnishes a wrestlingground Jor the two little oni whoare entertaining him. He maytruly be described as carrying hisMadison Square Garden with him Masks are indispensable adjunctsto the Japanese No dances as wellas to other theatrical , they are very oftendepicted in ivory by the netsukecarvers, either singly or in suchgroupings as shown in the examplebelow, which presents one or moregrotesque faces on whatever side isturned to the observer
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectnatural, bookyear1901
