Antique Pair of Japanese Festival Dolls, Matsukaze and Murasame

Matsukaze and Murasame were described in a tale from the life of Arihara Yukihira (818-893), a poet of the first rank during the Heian Era and a prince who was exiled for three years to Suma on the shore of the Inland Sea. He becomes involved with two lovely "shiokumi" ("salt-scooping") sisters named Matsukaze and Murasame, who both fall in love with him. When he is recalled from exile, he writes a farewell poem promising to return, and leaves it behind with his cloak and court hat ("eboshi"), hanging them on a pine branch. He never returns. A fisherman named Konohei informs the sisters that Yukihira has gone, whereupon Matsukaze plunges into madness over the loss of her lover. She puts on his cloak and dances the story of her tragic love, one of various kabuki dance sequences based on the Matsukaze story. There is also a Noh play entitled "Matsukaze" that is considered a masterpiece of the genre.

Matsukaze and Murasame

CONDITION No damage. The overall condition is as you would expect from an object of substantial age that has been displayed/handled/used, usually over the lifetimes of several owners. Losses to paper items primarily. Pictures are part of the description, and should be viewed thoroughly.

(Height of tallest 15 inches)

Circa mid to late 1800s.

Provenance: Estate of Jonathan Paul Cobb, San Francisco, CA.

Item ID: A3110

$500 $375 USD REDUCED

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