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A scene from the Kabuki play ‘Zen’aku Ryoumen Konotegashiwa’. Konotegashiwa (Platycladus orientalis) is a type of Chinese hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa); whilst the underside of hinoki leaves is usually white, this variety is green on both sides. Hence, the title is as you have translated it.

Stone steps leading down and through buildings towards trees.

'Passing Spring' - Nishijima Katsuyuki, late 1900s.
#JapaneseArt

This striking 19th-century hikeshi-banten (fireman’s jacket) exemplifies the tradition of functional garments serving as canvases for complex mythological narratives. The interior of the jacket features a bold, hand-painted scene depicting a legendary warrior or deity in a dynamic struggle with a powerful creature, rendered with a dramatic use of color and sweeping lines. These jackets were typically made of heavy, multi-layered cotton through the sashiko (running stitch) technique, which served the dual purpose of strengthening the fabric and retaining water to protect the wearer from the intense heat of a blaze.

In late 19th century Japan, firemen wore a distinctive form of kimono-style jacket. Each was a berspoke creation with a painted design emblazoned on the back. They tended to depict scenes from myths and legends. They are portable artworks. “

Text by Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

It was a challenge and a pleasure to incorporate yokai and Japanese art into these images for #MTGStrixhaven

The dortabō and ouni are both classic yokai and worked really well with their cards' concepts. The rabbits from Hop To It (and ouni's robe) are inspired by the animals from chōjū giga.

I love them all!

A line of grey birds fly over a river in a snowy landscape.

'Plovers Flying Across a River above Snow-Laden Reeds' from the series 'Worlds of Things' - Kamisaka Sekka, ca. 1909-10. From the Art Institute of Chicago collection.
#JapaneseArt

In Chinese folklore, Zhong Kui Marries Off His Sister (鍾馗嫁妹) turns a demon-slayer into an unlikely matchmaker. Fierce enough to terrify spirits, Zhong Kui arranges his sister’s marriage to his loyal friend Du Ping, then leads the wedding himself: beard wild, slightly drunk, 1/2

Cream-colored garment with embroidered black and blue stylized flying bats arranged in right-left symmetry from the base of the collar to the hem. Mounted on display at museum exhibit. Photographed in 2019 at The Life of Animals in Japanese Art exhibition at the National Gallery of Art DC. “In the West, bats - nocturnal in habit and denizens of dark places tend to be viewed as unlucky, but in China they have long been considered an auspicious motif (one of the characters used to write the word "bat" is a homonym for good fortune). The Kabuki actor Ichikawa Danjüro VII (1791-1859) used bat motifs in his costumes, and the perception of these animals as a chic design element spread rapidly throughout Japan in the nineteenth century. Here a great number of them are arranged in right-left symmetry from the base of the collar to the hem.” The above info is from the official exhibition catalog - the bat kosode is on p.124!

closeup of the bats on collar

closeup of the bats on hem

It’s #BatAppreciationDay 🦇 on a #FabricFriday so please appreciate this awesome 19th c. Japanese kosode decorated with embroidered lucky #bats:
KOSODE WITH BATS
Edo - Meiji, 19th century
silk twill, paste-resist dyed, embroidery; 67⅜ × 48⅞ in
National Museum of Japanese History / NGA DC
#JapaneseArt

An intricately embroidered dark blue kimono. It has dragons, flowers and shells embroidered onto it.

An intricately embroidered dark blue kimono. It has dragons, flowers and shells embroidered onto it.

This formal robe would have been worn by a high-ranking official, possibly at the Chinese imperial court.

The shape is based on a traditional Han Chinese design with some adaptations to the clothing style of the Manchu rulers of the Quing dynasty.

I love this representation Cerise. Your work is absolutely fabulous, I have been enjoying seeing it as you post on Discord too. Thank you so much for sharing.

Thanks so much.

Thank you.

A grey tabby cat with a bell around its neck is walking towards string or wool lying on the ground.

'Kitten and Wool' - Aoyama Masaharu, ca. 1950s.
#Caturday #JapaneseArt

A black and white cat stands before a deck that leads into a room with a circular window with a view to a lush green garden beyond.

This gorgeous cat also seemed to enjoy visiting the Meigetsuin Zen Temple in Kamakura.
#Caturday #Japan

In Northern Song(960-1127) art, Emperor Huizong turns cranes into an omen of refined power and celestial grace. Twenty birds sweep across the sky, hovering, gliding, dipping low, each alive with its own rhythm, while the palace roof below holds the scene in poised stillness. 1/3

左軍容使嚴遵美，一日發狂，手足舞蹈，旁有一貓一犬，貓忽謂犬曰：「軍容改常矣，癲發也。」犬曰：「莫管他。」俄而舞定，自異貓犬之言。遇昭宗播遷，乃求致仕，竟免於難。 ~ 《北夢瑣言》

In ancient Chinese folklore, a talking cat is never just a curiosity. It signals that the world has slipped out of joint.
When the military commissioner Yan Zunmei fell into madness, he overheard a cat remark to a dog, “The commissioner has lost his mind,” 1/3
#caturday

“In China bats have long been considered lucky creatures because the written symbol for bat has the same pronunciation as that for happiness. Consequently, bats are frequently featured in textile patterns and porcelain designs in both China and Japan. Since the perfection of the full moon is also viewed as an auspicious occurrence, the combination of a bat and the moon suggests exponential happiness.” color woodblock print of a black bat flying in front of a full moon

Happy International #BatAppreciationDay 🦇!
Takahashi Bihō (Japan, b.1873)
#Bat and Moon, c. 1928–30
Woodblock print (shin hanga / kachō-e), ink & color on paper
Sheet 10 3/4 x 11 3/16 in. (27.3 x 28.4 cm)
MIA P.77.28.46 collections.artsmia.org/art/91665/ba...
#JapaneseArt

A fox dressed in women's clothing holds a fan and looks down at a man sitting before her.

'Tamamo no Mae Transforming into a Fox' - Utagawa Sadakage.
#PhantomsFriday #yokai #ukiyoe #JapaneseArt

A couple holding umbrellas are walking beside a river in the rain. They are near a curved wooden bridge that crosses to the other side. They have encountered a bloody ghost who is floating without feet. The man appears to be leaping back/cowering in fear while the woman looks back at it over her shoulder.

'Bloody Ghost' from the series 'Difficult to Distinguish between Good and Evil' - Adachi Ginko, ca. 1885.
#PhantomsFriday #ukiyoe #JapaneseArt

A couple in kimono pose at the Nanzen-ji aqueduct.

A couple in kimono pose beneath the Nanzen-ji aqueduct.

Steps pass under the Nanzen-ji aqueduct to the sub-temple of Nanzen-in.

A heron fishes atop the Nanzen-ji aqueduct.

One of the most unusual remnants of the Lake Biwa Canal is a very European looking aqueduct, the 'suirokaku' (水路閣), almost concealed within the leafy precincts of Nanzen-ji (南禅寺)🌉💦

#水路閣 #aqueduct #Kyoto #Nanzenji #南禅寺 #琵琶湖疏水

Two women stand near a flowering tree.

'Fashionable Women of Ohara in Spring' - Kikugawa Eizan, ca. 1804-18, from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston collection.
#JapaneseArt #ukiyoe

Thank you so much

Thank you 🙏

Thank you!

A close-up scene of late spring and summer’s flowers all in full blue and in beautiful detail … at the bottom in the foreground is a scythe…many butterflies and insects enjoy their choice of flowers on this warm day

Dreaming of warmer days in artist Gustave Doré’s (1832-83) imagination

Omikuji are slips of paper on which fortunes are written. Like a lottery, they are picked at random. In recent years many shrines and temples sell omikuji in cute 'holders', many in the shape of familiars and objects linked to the location.

Once read omikuji, whether good are bad, are left at the location in the hope that the gods either remove bad fortune or grant good fortune. Often people will also leave the fortune 'holders'. Here a herd of boars surrounds an out of place pigeon (clearly purchased at another shrine).

A common sight a shrines are racks of omikuji, left tied by the faithful having been read.

Hogarth the cat poses with an omikuji holder in the shape of the 'Yatagarasu', a mythological 3-legged bird.

🐇🐒🐉FAMILIARS AND FORTUNES🐂🦊🐁

Visitors to shrines and temples for a long time have enjoyed having their fortunes determined by lucky dip, but in recent years Kyōto's familiars have helped kickstart a new craze for collecting 'omikuji' (御御籤 'sacred lots').

#omikuji #sacredlots #Japan #おみくじ #御御籤

I am drawn to camellias with variegated petals, which I grow in my garden.
Each pattern is different, never repeated, and I find beauty in these quiet variations.
In them, I sense a reflection of human presence—each of us uniquely marked, quietly distinct.

Mediums and Mountain Ascetics Following her mother’s death, a writer turns to Japan’s spiritual traditions to find healing and connection.

I'm on @tricyclemag.bsky.social talking about Japan's "radically inclusive" spiritual traditions, which make room for everyone and everything. Gift link here: tricycle.org/article/shug...

US artist drawn into mystery of yokai | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News The world of yokai -- mysterious natural phenomena and the beings behind them -- has long been a mainstay of Japanese folklore. An American artist is reimagining yokai and using his drawing skills to ...

My most recent interview with NHK World is up starting today, featuring a look into my work uncovering Fukui's local folklore: www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/...