Seventeenth-Century Japanese Early Sankai ibutsu: An Manuscript Illustrated Nakagawa Masako University Villanova I-]-l• • • !-!-i jing and the Shan-hai The Sankai ibutsu volumes) Seas, (Mythical and of the Mountains The Sankai ibutsu Creatures two ,•, •,• y• cm.), illustrated book from • (22.0 Japanese large ehon is 30.2 Nara a cm. x a York Public Spencer of the the Collection New is housed in seventeenth the It century. purchase (1870-1912) the fund Library. Augustus Spencer established William trust to a language. procured and in from books that could be finest illustrated country any any belong collection, Japanese Among Spencer Collection. them the the items Over 8000 to representative illustrated books and numbering of all varieties 600, than covers more The manuscripts end of the nineteenth Japan from the twelfth the of century. century to of Catalogue Japanese title, catalogue available is under the Japanese of collection the of Spencer York Pub#c Manuscripts Collection the New Books the Illustrated and in catalogue • •. Shigeo his Sorimachi • Library by •J- the foreword Sorimachi In to equal only both this in Japan, collections there in "Even two states, to one are one or quantity" (p. 18). quality and in read, English first of the Sankai ibutsu notations the back of the volume in The Seas) Depictions (Pictorial Mountains and the of of the ibutsu the "Sankai Monsters 17th-century. painted by • early His /v, the Presented Naka in ha In © t,• to no Collection, Majesty Meiji Spencer Imperial for The 1880," the and "Purchased in Great Spring Library Shigeo Tokyo Sorimachi, Japan, Public from 1940." The York The New Tokyo August while the International ibutsu exhibition in in Sankai 1979 was on Books being Conference Picture held. Nara on was exquisite mythical Sankai introduces ibutsu from ancient China. This 47 creatures mythical beings, hybrid forms, fish. animals consist of and The These strange creatures settings gold landscape illustrations with full colors and elaborate of each in creature paint complemented by explanatory short of derived the Most texts. creatures are are • _•__Jjf [] beings San-ts t'u-hui from the sections and animals birds found in the 'ai or on • (1565-1614) (Tripartite compiled by Assembly) Wang qZ Ch'i in Picture which was t'u-hui, Nanking indebted the in about These of San-ts sections the 1610. 'ai turn, to are Seas). ching (The ching Shan-hai Classic of the Mountains and The is the Shah-hal parallel bestiaries and Chinese literature the medieval Latin in books closest to on thing eighteen of Shan-hai volumes in marvels and The the present monsters. text was •g • chapters by (276-324). first five believed been have edited The P'o Kuo to are eight B.C.E., it is said have reached B.C.E, written before the before and 20 250 next to ching is considered have been the its before The Shah-hal C.E. 250 present to state once geographical geographical illustrated classified for work until and text map an was as a depicted dynasty. mythical T'ang had the said been the that It creatures map on was which lost. was 24 •, founder the work of traditionally be ching considered Y• is Shan-hai The to a •, •:, preceding Shun ruler minister of the and B.C.E., dynasty in of I Hsia 2205 the a a well animals ruler, said be legendary B.C.E. 2255-2205 It expert to as on as on an was the flood-controlling efforts, traveled and initial I Yt• their of fire. In the across use their they in and record, encountered produced log, of what empire of and sort saw a or guide travelers served ching. this book Later, which became the Shah-hal travels, to a as animals, informing holy of the them sites, visiting mountains and other creatures, strange wanderings. informed the also hybrids, spirits, might their they in It and that encounter meeting of might wield, of the such of travelers the that creatures consequences power Although wearing sacrificial fur, rites. consuming of their and them, flesh, their or • • • ,1• •]• (Records rejected of the Shih-chi by the in unsound Ch'ien Ssu-ma as traditional ching combined with the Historian), Shah-hal Grand the of the contents mythological world. authorship antiquity imply its the ancient in of roots may Mythology Sankai and ibutsu hybrid the ancient form. Sankai ibutsu in In Many of the of the 47 creatures are a eighth regarded admiration affection until the animals with world and century were development potential largely of they the due B.C.E. when became man's to enemy hybrids occupation. agriculture primary Especially, volume in found of the 2 many as a partially shen belong the of of the Sankai human form and ibutsu category .to one are a :•I, following particular holy spirits points the attached localities. Michael Loewe out to principals hybrids: formation for of such two Identification Tribal traced of with the animal world. 1. ancestors to were man spirits by animals; of another world made make with the animal attempts contact to were physical of assimilation. means being transforming image mighty animal Euhemerisation: his of from 2. man was beings forms; myths gods origin into transformed into and of earlier human the were an history) of authentic examination of Sankai close ibutsu reveals that fourteen of the the A sources (30%, below) of the items asterisked derived from the last four the creatures pages are "Beings," u-hui, San-ts Section 14. 'ai t Sankai ibutsu Volume Volume 1 2 •_• YO-•rh* 25 1. •j• Feng-t'ai* 2. 26 )•J• Ju-shou* 3. 27 •j• Chiao-ch'ung* 4. 28 •:•: T'ien-wu* 5. 29 J•: • Ch'iang-liang* 30 6. ;• Shen-pa 7. 31 Cambridge of eds., China, History 1, Loewe, Twitchett and vol. 658. 1 p. of Life andDeath, Michael Chinese ldeas Loewe, 71. 2 p. Beast," Loewe, Michael "Man and 100. 3 p. 25 She-shih* 8. Chu-yin* 9. Ti-chiang* 10. Hsiang-i shih* 11. Fei-yi 12. Ku* 13. Shen-lu* 14. Ch't•eh-shen* 15. Han-fang bird 16. HsOan-ho 17. Luan 18. Pi-yi bird 19. Yo-tsu 20. Tzu-shu 21. Shu-ssu 22. Fu-chi 23. T'o-chi 24. belong second first and mostly the humanoid fourteen Twelve of these to monsters the classification, older than others: believed be categories which of Heinz Mode's to are markedly body body animal in with with human 1. Monsters a or an a origin. head, of animal other features animal with human posture, some or an earliest of all. The unmistakably animal, animal in with 2. Monsters posture, or an purely chest, feature. other head, human human combined with human or a a head) (body different taken from of and made Monsters 3. parts up species animal features added. with other animal or reduplication figures deliberate combinations with and Monstrous 4. or simplification, one-legged, long-eared, etc. given objects phenomena human animal man-made Natural 5. are or or symbolic changes. small, only entities, with often features and turned into 4 new ibutsu Mode in Sankai twelve humanoid the Three category types creatures among are accompanying following .is and its The the and associated with snakes. text one illustrations of those three creatures: Ju-shou 3. wrapped left gold spirit around its is snake Ju-shou is the of the There West. green ear. a holds halberd dragons, face and and rides thick around hair its Ju-shou has two eyes, a on tiger claws. its in Ch'iang-liang 6. Mode, Demons, Fabulous and Beasts 18 Heinz 4 p. 26 • 7k• Pei-chi ) is called Beyond (Ta Huang the mountain Great in central The body, four head, human tiger's spirit has its mouth. snake in It with There lives a a a a Ch'iang-liang. long and is called hoofs, horse arms, Hei-jen 42. •_ tiger's 1-[1. head and holds • has Hei-jen I-chu being It called Mt. is There a a on a chewing them. hand each while in snake Shamans light these three interpretation shed shamanistic A creatures. are may on accompanied by they shown hybrid be form; portrayed animal in sometimes may or Hsien) (the Shaman Hsien land of ching the in Wu that Shah-hal The snakes. 5 states right in red snakes hand and their snakes in blue brandish who there those green or are of shamans whole host where Teng-pao, This is their let't hands. Mount up move a on and down. 6 of China. beyond boundaries spread the certainly well tradition shamanistic A unlike hands, the both Hei-jen snakes in holds above ibutsu, posture 42, not Sankai no. significance of snake Although goddess. the Asiatic Qudeshet, of the that Western a might cultures, representations from other religious shamanistic and differ, there are similarity, degree of which exhibit some Myths Creation and ibutsu Sankai above-mentioned Ti-chiang included-in the form, is Although humanoid not a beings. The reads: fourteen text and back is red of its sack. The leather spirit T'ien. looks like lives It top Mt. A a on wings. chaos with It is and four body glows has six feet yellow, like fire. It and its no Ti-chiang. sing called dance, and is and face. It can Shah-hal "Beings," Section t'u-hui, and the from 14 San-ts is derived the 'ai This text • •'•: Ti-chiang, called mythical being, also Hun-tun ching.