A PAIR OF JAPANESE IKI NINGYO (LIVING DOLLS) OF SUMO WRESTLERS
A PAIR OF JAPANESE IKI NINGYO (LIVING DOLLS) OF SUMO WRESTLERS
MEIJI PERIOD, LATE 19TH CENTURY
The two men realistically depicted in gesso and pigments over carved wood, with glass eyes and human hair applied to their torso, one darker-skinned and attempting to lift the other by his mawashi (loincloth), the paler wrestler trying to counter the move by using his right leg in a technique known as the Kawasu gake throw, both raised on a base shaped as tied-up straw bales, inscribed in Danish underneath 'Gave fra Herr Henny. Haag i Aug.1907' (Gift from Mr Henny, The Hague, August 1907), 39.5cm overall. (2)
Iki-ningyo (living dolls) are a type of Japanese traditional dolls popular in the Edo and Meiji periods which were often included in misemono (special exhibitions used to raise funds for shrines). Many were life-size and depicted gruesome subjects with a realism that equally shocked and attracted viewers. The larger models were at first intended for the domestic market, but smaller examples later became popular with Western collectors, museums and Institutions. Yokohama workshops started producing them for export, and the Smithsonian and the Peabody Essex Museum commissioned examples for their own collections.
The Kawazu gake (Kawazu entanglement) is named after Kawazu no Saburo Sukeyasu who defeated Matano Goro Kagehisa at a sumo tournament before Minamoto no Yoritomo on Mount Akazawa in 1177. The fight is highly significant in the history of sumo, and it is often depicted in Japanese art, in particular in woodblock prints series dedicated to the story of the Soga Monogatari (The Revenge of the Soga Brothers). The darker-skinned wrestler depicted here is Kawatsu Saburo and the other is Matano Goro.
See Museums Sheffield, access. no. K91.11 for another iki-ningyo model of sumo wrestlers donated to the City of Sheffield in 1891.
Cf. A Scott Pate, Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll, pp.64-65 for another example of iki-ningyo wrestlers at Detroit Institute of the Arts.
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A PAIR OF JAPANESE IKI NINGYO (LIVING DOLLS) OF SUMO WRESTLERS
MEIJI PERIOD, LATE 19TH CENTURY
The two men realistically depicted in gesso and pigments over carved wood, with glass eyes and human hair applied to their torso, one darker-skinned and attempting to lift the other by his mawashi (loincloth), the paler wrestler trying to counter the move by using his right leg in a technique known as the Kawasu gake throw, both raised on a base shaped as tied-up straw bales, inscribed in Danish underneath 'Gave fra Herr Henny. Haag i Aug.1907' (Gift from Mr Henny, The Hague, August 1907), 39.5cm overall. (2)
Iki-ningyo (living dolls) are a type of Japanese traditional dolls popular in the Edo and Meiji periods which were often included in misemono (special exhibitions used to raise funds for shrines). Many were life-size and depicted gruesome subjects with a realism that equally shocked and attracted viewers. The larger models were at first intended for the domestic market, but smaller examples later became popular with Western collectors, museums and Institutions. Yokohama workshops started producing them for export, and the Smithsonian and the Peabody Essex Museum commissioned examples for their own collections.
The Kawazu gake (Kawazu entanglement) is named after Kawazu no Saburo Sukeyasu who defeated Matano Goro Kagehisa at a sumo tournament before Minamoto no Yoritomo on Mount Akazawa in 1177. The fight is highly significant in the history of sumo, and it is often depicted in Japanese art, in particular in woodblock prints series dedicated to the story of the Soga Monogatari (The Revenge of the Soga Brothers). The darker-skinned wrestler depicted here is Kawatsu Saburo and the other is Matano Goro.
See Museums Sheffield, access. no. K91.11 for another iki-ningyo model of sumo wrestlers donated to the City of Sheffield in 1891.
Cf. A Scott Pate, Ningyo: The Art of the Japanese Doll, pp.64-65 for another example of iki-ningyo wrestlers at Detroit Institute of the Arts.
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