Kimono
1926-1945 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This kimono for a young boy depicts Momotarō, the ‘peach boy’, a hero of Japanese folklore. According to legend, an old, childless couple found a peach floating down a river and when they cut the fruit open to eat it, a boy emerged saying he had been sent from heaven to be their son. Some years later Momotarō and his animal friends set off to fight a band of marauding oni (demons) on a distant island. They won their fight and returned home with treasure. On this kimono, Momotarō is shown with a cart of treasures and a banner, surmounted by a peach, which reads Nihonichi (‘Japan number one’). Momotarō was a very popular figure in Japan from the 1920s through to the years of the Asia-Pacific War. He was the subject of many films and children’s cartoons of the period such as Nihonichi Momotarō of 1928.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Plain-weave silk, stencil-printed on fabric surface (kata-yūzen) |
Brief description | Tex, Japan, resist-dyed. Kimono for a young boy with Momotarō and various treasures; Shōwa period |
Physical description | Kimono for a young boy, plain-weave silk, stencil-printed on the fabric surface. On a purple and cream striped ground is a design of Momotarō (the ‘peach boy’) holding a fan, a cart with takara zukushi (‘various treasures’) including a bag of fortune, scrolls of wisdom and longevity, merchant’s weights, sacred jewels, a sacred key, coral, cloves in waves, pine, bamboo, dumplings on a stick, and a floral diamond motif (hanabishi) within tortoise-shell hexagons (kikkō). Ties of yellow silk. Unlined. |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by Janice Thorburn |
Summary | This kimono for a young boy depicts Momotarō, the ‘peach boy’, a hero of Japanese folklore. According to legend, an old, childless couple found a peach floating down a river and when they cut the fruit open to eat it, a boy emerged saying he had been sent from heaven to be their son. Some years later Momotarō and his animal friends set off to fight a band of marauding oni (demons) on a distant island. They won their fight and returned home with treasure. On this kimono, Momotarō is shown with a cart of treasures and a banner, surmounted by a peach, which reads Nihonichi (‘Japan number one’). Momotarō was a very popular figure in Japan from the 1920s through to the years of the Asia-Pacific War. He was the subject of many films and children’s cartoons of the period such as Nihonichi Momotarō of 1928. |
Collection | |
Accession number | FE.74-2014 |
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Record created | December 2, 2014 |
Record URL |
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