Page 407 - Art In The Age Of Exploration (Great Section on Chinese Art Ming Dynasty)

applied over a base of black lacquer is called
negoro-nuri, after Negori-ji, the temple in
present-day Wakayama Prefecture, which was
thought to have been the center of production for
this ware from the thirteenth century (see cat.
250). A variety of vessels, trays, and tables were
produced using this technique.
While maintaining a consistently recognizable
profile, Negoro ewers exhibit a variety of styles,
ranging from attenuated shapes with fairly com-
plex design schemes to the simple and robust
example seen here. The bail handle is typical of
Negoro ware vessels: it rises in two curved seg-
ments from the shoulder of the vessel to a
strongly horizontal uppermost transverse which
effectively echoes the predominant horizontally
of body and lid. Thin circumference bands on the
lid and body are reserved in black, as are the lid
knob and the foot. Variations in the basic negoro
ewer style typically consist of decorative
flourishes where the handle joins the body and on
the spout, both at the lip and at the point of join
with the body. Bodies are also seen with multiple
horizontal ribbing lines or with a wide circum-
ference band of visible wood grain covered
by translucent lacquer. The triangular foot is
also common. This ewer has a slightly raised
circular base. j.u.

2 52
PORTABLE SHRINE (Oi)

i$th century
Japanese
wood with gilt bronze and painted decoration
height 79.2 (3^/4)
Matsuo-dera, Nara

Shugendo refers to a regime of asceticism prac-
ticed in Japan from at least Early Heian (794-897)
times. Its followers were called yamabushi (liter-
ally, "one who lies in the mountains"). Their dis-
ciplined journeys into designated "sacred" reflected elements of Siberian shamanistic prac- ferent terminology: the fuchi oi was used by
mountains were intended to facilitate spiritual tice. When Buddhism arrived in Japan from the advanced practitioners or teachers, the yoko oi by
rebirth as well as confer the gifts of healing, exor- continent, particularly the Esoteric teachings of novices. It has been suggested that perhaps the
cism, and other thaumaturgic powers. Various the Tendai and Shingon sects proved sympathetic fuchi oi was comparable to the it a oi, and the yoko
forms of mountain faith (sangaku shinko) surely to the "mountain faith" and eventually assimi- oi to the hako oi, but this remains a speculation.
were manifested in pre-Buddhist Japan. Moun- lated its practices. Imagery and iconography of The it a oi somewhat resembles a modern back-
tains, or certain mountains, were numinous sites. Buddhism as well as specific ritual implements pack, with a decorated textile bag attached to or
Their rugged profiles asserted physical realities were incorporated into the yamabushi's accouter- suspended within a frame formed of an unpainted
and symbolized spiritual realities. Notions of ments. Many of these implements, including small tree branch curved into horseshoe shape. The bag
arduous training, ascent, and descent, as well as Buddhist statues and sutras, were transported in a is secured to the curve of the branch, whose two
more complex understandings of the mountain as portable altar or carrying case called an oi. Ita oi ends form the legs of the oi. Ita oi are depicted in
womb, all figured into the metaphor of the moun- and hako oi are the two principal categories or charming detail in such early narrative hand-
tain as the site of spiritual transformation of the types of these carrying cases. scrolls as Ippen Shonin Eden (Illustrated Biog-
seeker. It has been suggested that the early Early sources define the oi by their users rather raphy of the Monk Ippen, 1299) and Saigyo
Japanese forms of this spiritual phenomenon than by their forms, and employ a somewhat dif- Monogatari Ekotoba (Illustrated Biography of

406 CIRCA 1492