Old Silk Screen Japanese Symbolic Theme

[GARY WORTHAM]

 

This old Japanese silk screen has a complex motif from the rabbit & the moon to the samurai offering his sword to the river ???

 

Anyone have the actual interpretation or thought behind, what I find to be a beautiful and facinating historical representation of old Japanese culture / folklore.

[SteveM]

I think it represents something from Heian-era, or thereabouts. Maybe a scene or character from Heike Monogatari.

The hat is an eboshi (or something like it) worn by priests and nobles, so to me it feels like the artist is trying to evoke something from the distant past (as opposed to the Edo/Tokugawa era).

 

I also throw this out for consideration (the section near the bottom on "Tachi-arai", but I think this is only a distant possibility.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/life/2009/04/19/travel/on-the-trail-of-the-ancients/