Page 32 - The Meiji Aesthetic Christie's Hong Kong.pdf

Crab

Because the crab crawls sideways, never backwards, samurai interpreted the crab as a
symbol of bravery. The claws and hard shell of the crab also relate to the iron armor
of warriors, who frequently wore fantastic iron helmets in the form of the crab. Since
the Edo period (1615–1868), the crab has featured in the jizai work of the Myochin
school of metalsmiths up to the pioneer of articulated sculpture in the modern
period, Takase Kozan (1868–1894).

Though most jizai crabs are of the small, freshwater variety (sawagani), there are rarer
examples of swimming crabs (watarigani), such as one in the British Museum. The
smallest known articulated crab with 0.8 cm shell is in the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka
Museum, Kyoto.
In Mandarin Chinese, crab is pronounced xie, a homophone for “harmony” 諧.
As the shell of the crab means both “armor”, jia, and “frst”, the crab also connotes
success in the civil examination required for advancement.

蟹

蟹橫行甚速，從不倒行，被武士階級視為勇武象徵，以蟹爪及硬殼形象設計
之盔甲裝飾屢見不鮮。自在蟹雕名貫古今，由江戶時代(1615-1868年)金工名
家明珍派乃至現代巨匠高瀨虎吉(好山1868-1894年)，都喜愛以蟹入題。
傳世自在蟹雕多為川蟹，僅有少數為渡蟹，一罕例藏於大英博物館藏。京都
清水三年坂美術館藏有世上最為袖珍之自在蟹，其殼僅闊0.8公分。
「蟹」中文與「諧」同音，象徵和諧，在中國文化中亦寓意深厚。