Kenji Ueno

A fascinating collection of anthropomorphic animal cartoons made about 1100 AD, Great caricatures and expression. I bought this copy in the Kozan Ji temple …, just out of Kyoto where some of these scrolls were kept. God knows how they survived the temple being burned down several times and the mould in that damp location. But I just love them. And clearly, many others do likewise because you now find them reproduced all over Japan on plates, tea towels, bags etc etc., there is some sort of hint about a shocking revelation in the scrolls but my Japanese and Google translate were not sufficient for me to find it….. except perhaps for a vague hint that a fox is masturbating…….well maybe but maybe he’s just holding his tail.
Anyway, I like the book and the reproductions are clearer (I think) than the facsimiles of the originals that were on display at the temple. It’s not all animals: there are pictures of many people done in a similar cartoonish style….. presumably a pre cursor to manga and maybe explaining some of the popularity of the style. Apparently the works were made elsewhere and deposited or inherited by the Temple.
Anyway, happily give it five stars based solely on the pictures. I’m sure the text is scholarly but it was all in Japanese.… (mais)