Chōjū jinbutsu giga (Scrolls of Frolicking Animals and Humans)
鳥獣人物戯画
Artwork · traditionally attributed to Toba Sōjō · mid 12th century · emakimono · Kōzan-ji Temple
Four scrolls in ink alone, without text: the first two show animals behaving like people — a rabbit doing a back flip into a lake, frogs dancing to split-bamboo clappers, frogs and rabbits at an archery contest, a monkey in monk’s robes chanting before a frog enshrined as a Buddha — satirical, at times bitingly so. The third and fourth scrolls are later and by a less competent hand. Who made them and why is unknown: they have been seen as a satirical counterpart to the Nenjū gyōji emaki of Tokiwa Mitsunaga and Go Shirakawa, or, after Mimi Yiengpruksawan, as the work of the city’s non-aristocratic merchants. The first two probably date from before 1150. 1 Mason 2005, pp. 118–119, figs. 142–144. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.