Artwork Page for The Illustrated Tale of Oishi Hyōroku

Details / Information for The Illustrated Tale of Oishi Hyōroku

The Illustrated Tale of Oishi Hyōroku

大石兵六物語絵巻

1700s
(1615–1868)
Measurements
Overall: 25.7 x 977.4 cm (10 1/8 x 384 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view

Description

This incomplete handscroll illustrates part of the story of Oishi Hyoroku, a young man tasked with battling fox apparitions who were creating problems in his town. In other extant versions of the scroll, the story is set in the fall of 1624 in Kagoshima in southern Japan. Throughout the story, Hyoroku is tricked and terrified by the foxes that shift their shapes into a variety of monstrous phantoms. After repeated humiliations, he eventually captures two of the foxes. In this version, colloquial texts that function like text blurbs in comics appear throughout the scroll, but the main text is missing.
A weathered, tan handscroll depicts a sparse procession of small, stylized figures with light skin tones. Moving from left to right, humans in red and green clothing interact with various monstrous creatures. These scenes float against the aged background, grounded by faint ink washes suggesting trees and hills. The figures are rendered with delicate black ink, depicting a narrative sequence across the horizontal landscape of the scroll.

The Illustrated Tale of Oishi Hyōroku

1700s

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

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