Object details

Accession number

8.a.1.2

Creators

• Hasegawa Takejiro (Tokyo, 1853 - 1938) - publisher
• Kobayashi Eitaku (Tokyo, 1843 - 1890, Tokyo) - illustrator
• David Thompson (Cadiz, Ohio, 1835 - 1915) - translator

Full title

The Tongue-Cut Sparrow [Shitakiri Suzume]

Creation Date

1886

Language

English

Publication Place

Tokyo

Binding Description

Silk stab tied

Provenance

Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner (a set of sixteen of her Japanese Fairy Tales) from the East Asian art dealer, Otto Fukushima, New York for $1.50 on 16 December 1893. She added the seventeenth volume (probably 8.a.1.3) to her collection at a later date (after 1906).

Dimensions

18 x 12 cm (7 1/16 x 4 3/4 in.)

Display Media

Ink and color on paper

Web Commentary

Isabella Stewart Gardner’s collection includes a selection of children’s books. This paperback is one of a popular series of Japanese folk tales translated into English and illustrated with woodblock prints by Kobayashi Eitaku. On the cover of this volume, a procession of sparrows wearing colorfully patterned kimonos follow an elderly woman carrying a large basket that they have filled with demons—her punishment for having cut out the tongue of one of their friends.

Permanent Gallery Location

Long Gallery

Bibliography

Rights and reproductions

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