This rare and attractive antique Japanese carved mahogany
panel has been hand carved in relief. It depicts a scene
from an old Japanese fable called 'The Eighty One Brothers' a transcript
of this story is included below.
The design is of the hare belonging to the Princess of Inaba, running
across the crocodiles in the sea as a bridge from Tajima, on the north
coast of Japan to Cape Keta.
The hand carving is in both deep and shallow relief and emphasis
the movement of the hare through the waves. It is framed in the original
ebonised frame.
The large size of this panel, 58 inches by 17.5 inches, makes it
an unusual and attractive focus in a room.
The influence of Japanese design from this period on the English
Arts and Crafts Movement is well known and this is clearly seen in
this carving. English designers from the late 19th centaury, such
as E. W. Godwin, traveled to Japan and were taken by the simplicity
of the Japanese design which they incorporated into their designs.
The panel is in its original condition with no restoration. It has
no splits or cracks and has developed an attractive deep brown patina
over time.
Dimensions:
Height: 5 foot 10 inches (148cm)
Width: 17 1/2 inches (44cm)
Depth: 1 1/2 inches (3.5cm)
Price: £1,495
XE.com
Personal Currency Assistant
Our Reference: SN417
If you are interested in this Japanese Carved Panel
please contact
us or email us
at burrellsdesks@yahoo.co.uk quoting Ref: SN417
The Japanese Fable of 'THE EIGHTY-ONE
BROTHERS'
Near Tajima, on the north coast of Japan, lived a mighty
prince who had eighty-one sons. Eighty of them were bold, proud men,
and hated the youngest brother, the eighty-first.
This youngest brother was kind and good to everyone. His elder brothers
said:
"That is not the way for a prince to act. You treat people as
though you were the commonest wood-cutter, and not a cousin of the
Emperor himself."
But in spite of all they said the youngest prince was just as kind
to the people as ever, so his brothers hated him the more.
Now there was a beautiful princess in Inaba whom everyone
wished to see. The eighty, brothers said:
"Let us go and see this wonderful princess." So they started
off, two by two. What a procession they made! They took their youngest
brother, the eighty-first, along to carry their bundles and wait on
them, but he had to walk behind.
Over the hills and through the valleys they went until
they came to Cape Keta. Here they found a poor little hare without
a scrap of fur on his body. Every bit had been pulled off, and he
lay there with nothing to protect him from the hot sun.
''Oh, good friends," cried the poor hare to the eighty brothers,
''I am nearly dying. Can you tell me what to do to make my fur grow
again?"
The proud, cruel brothers only laughed at the poor
hare, and answered:
''You wish your hair to grow? Well, you just down and bathe in the
salt water of the ocean, and then go and lie on a high rock where
the sun can shine on you, and the wind can blow on you." Then
they went on, laughing.
The hare did as they told him do. Oh, how the salt
water stung his poor skin! Oh, how the sun and wind burned and cracked
it! He lay there groaning and crying with pain.
Suddenly he heard some one calling:
"What is the matter? Do you want help?"
"Oh, I am dying!" answered the hare. Then he heard some
one climbing up the rocks, and in a moment more the eighty-first brother
stood by him.
The poor young prince had so many bundles that he could hardly walk.
"What is the matter with you? Why are you groaning so?"
he asked the hare.
"It is a long story," said the hare, ''and when I am through
perhaps you will think I deserve what I now suffer, but I will tell
you all.
"I was on the island of Oki, and I wished to get over to this
country, but I had no boat. At last I thought of a plan. I went down
to the seashore and waited until I saw a crocodile raise its head
above the water. Then I called,
'Croco-croco-crocodile, come here, I wish to talk with you.' He came
up close, and I said, 'How many crocodiles are there in the sea?'
'There are more crocodiles in the sea than there are buttons on my
back,' said the crocodile.
'But there are not so many of you as there are of us,' I said. 'There
are more hares on the land than there are hairs on my back.'
'Let's count,' said the crocodile.
'All right,' I answered. 'You crocodiles lie here in a row from this
land to Cape Keta and I will run across on your heads and count you
as I go. Then we will count the hares and see which are the most.'
So the crocodiles all came and lay in a row, and the farthest one
just touched Cape Keta.
I sprang on their backs and ran as fast as I could to Cape Keta, counting
as I ran.
How foolish I was! Just as I reached the last crocodile I said,
'You silly things! Do you think I care how many there are of you?
You have made me a good bridge; that is all I wished. Thank you for
it. Good-by.'
The last crocodile caught me when I said that, and pulled every hair
off my body.
'We should like to know how many hares there are,' he said, 'so we
will just count these hairs and see.'
At that the whole row of crocodiles opened their great mouths and
laughed.
" Well, it served you right for being so tricky, but go on with
your story," said the eighty-first prince.
"Yes, I know it served me right for what I had done, and I shall
never do that again," said the poor hare. "But after all
my fur was gone, I was lying here crying when eighty princes came
along.
"They laughed at me for my baldness, and told me to bathe in
the salt water of the ocean and then lie in the sun and wind. I did
so, and see how I suffer!"
The eighty-first prince felt very sorry for the poor
hare, so he carried him to a spring of clear water.
"Bathe in this," he said, "and that will wash off all
the salt. I will bruise some leaves, and the juice from them will
make your fur grow again."
When this was done the hare felt as well as ever, and
his fur began growing again.
Then the prince picked up his bundles and started on to catch up with
his brothers.
When at last the poor tired boy reached Inaba he found his brothers
already there, and very cross indeed. The beautiful princess did not
care to see them and they scolded the eighty-first prince as though
it had been his fault.
They were just about to return home when a messenger
came from the princess.
"Ah!" cried the first prince, "she wishes to see me;
she is sending for me, I know."
"Oh, no!" shouted the second prince. ''It is I whom she
wants. I know she is sending for me."
The third prince fairly screamed:
"You silly things! Don't you know I am the one she wants? I am
far handsomer than any one of you. Of course she wants me."
The messenger waited until they were still at last, and then said:
"Her Majesty, the Princess of Inaba, wishes the burden-bearer
for the eighty princes to come."
The eighty-first prince laid down his burdens and followed
the messenger.
He led him to the palace and into a room where sat the most beautiful
woman he had ever seen. Beside her stood a hare whose fur was just
beginning to grow.
The princess said to him:
"My friend, I sent for you to thank you for what you did for
my pet hare. He has just come to tell me about it. How does it happen
that one so kind as you is only a servant?"
Then the eighty-first prince told her:
"I am not a servant, O most beautiful Princess! My eighty brothers
were coming to see you and made me walk behind and carry the burdens,
but I'm just as much a prince as they."
"How can I repay you for all you did for my poor hare? Ask anything
you wish and I will give it to you."
"The one thing I wish most of all is to live here with you,"
said the prince.
So they were the prince and princess of that land, and the hare was
their companion.
As for the eighty brothers, they found they might as well go home
first as last, and this time they had to carry their own burdens.
If you have an antique Japanese carved mahogany panel
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