Antique
Japanese Carved Okimono
Hagoromo
Celestial
Feather Kimono
Sig: unsigned, Circa: Meiji, 1868-1911
H 3 in.(7.5cm), W 1.6 in.(4cm), D 1.25
in.(3cm)
Condition:
chipped thumb, minor imperfections. 
-DEACCESSION- |  | A
Meiji era okimono and a functional netsuke with natural himotoshi. Meticulously
carved, milk-white to light gold in color, intricate and well detailed with engraving
and sumi, depicting one of the most-performed Noh plays in Japanese theatre: Hagoromo,
The Celestial Feather kimono. As the story had it-- The fisherman Hairukoo found
a beautiful kimono of pure white feathers hanging on a tree by the shore. As he
unties the floating silk, under the full moon he saw coming toward him from the
open sea a lovely tennin, who sadly pleading Hairukoo to return the feather kimono,
for without which she can not return to her celestial home. The fisherman refused
at first. Then he agreed to return the feather kimono only if the tennin would
perform a dance for him. Hence the high point of the play is the dance of the
celestial maiden (Suruga-mai). When the tennin had put on her feather garment
she rose into the air and began to sing and dance. As the chorus praises the dance
as a metaphor of the cyclic changes of the moon, up and up she went and so the
tennin disappears into the snow-capped Mount Fuji above the clouds.
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