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“The Chrysanthemum Boy of the Zhou Dynasty” (Shū no Kikujidō)
Tamura Yoshinobu Japanese
Not on view
The Chrysanthemum Boy (Japanese: Kikujidō) of Chinese legend is shown seated by a rocky stream, flowing from a waterfall in the background, with clusters of his namesake flower surrounding him. Formerly a favorite boy attendant of Emperor Mu (r. 1001–946 BCE) of the Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1045–771 BCE), he was exiled after he was caught walking across the pillow of the monarch, an unforgivable breech of palace decorum. While living in the remote countryside he discovered that the dewdrops that gathered on chrysanthemum leaves worked as an elixir of immortality. He is shown here with a writing box in front of him, a brush in one hand, as he prepares to inscribe sacred Buddhist phrases on the large lobed chrysanthemum leaf he holds in his other hand. This disarmingly charming and compelling composition with bold outlines was given added zest by hand-coloring and adding a bit of luster to the hand-inked areas by mixing in animal glue (nikawa). Such prints are called urushi-e, literally, “lacquer prints” because they are said to glisten like lacquerware.
By early modern times, the stories of the Chrysanthemum Boy were adopted by writers and playwrights in Japan. The Kanze school of Noh drama performs a play entitled The Chrysanthemum Boy (Kikujidō), while other schools of Noh refer to it as the Boy by the Pillow (Makura-jidō). In the Noh version of events, the setting is the reign of Emperor Wen (r. 507–551) of the Western Wei Dynasty. When water from a certain mountain was discovered to have medicinal properties, a palace official is sent to explore its source. In the mountains he discovers a boy living as a hermit who claims he once served Emperor Mu of the Zhou dynasty, seven hundred years before. To prove his story is true, he shows the officials a headrest, on which the emperor had transcribed passages from a sutra. The boy also reveals that after he copied the lines from the sutra onto chrysanthemum leaves, the dew that formed on them worked as an elixir of immortality. He was living proof. The highpoint of the play is when the Chrysanthemum Boy performs a dance of celebration. To end the play, the official and the boy share cups of the magical chrysanthemum water (kikusui) as if it were sake and offer prayers for the longevity of the emperor and the prosperity of his reign. The Chrysanthemum Boy returns to his life of reclusion.
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