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松に遊鯉図蒔絵印籠 銘「鹽見政誠」 19世紀
Provenance: Paul Corbin collection.
Purchased from J. M. Gueneau, Paris, 1971.
Wrangham collection, no.1135.
In Japan, the carp (koi) is the fish most commonly used for decorative purposes as a symbol of vigour, endurance, perseverance, and power; and for centuries the Japanese have held it up to their youths as an example for emulation. They taught their boys this old Chinese Confucian parable of the student striving to pass the Imperial examinations; the carp that succeeded in leaping a waterfall and making the ascent of the river became a dragon (koi no taki nobori). Parents strongly impressed upon them the idea that as this fish overcomes all the obstacles of the river, so they must surmount all the difficulties and trials of life if they would become the 'human dragon'.
























