Koshin, Stable, Nikko / Cryptomeria Avenue, Nikko

 

Kimbei Kusakabe

  1841 - 1934 (biography)

c. 1890  

hand-colored albumen prints mounted to cardstock 

image 1: 7-5/8 x 10-3/8"; image 2: 1-3/8 x 7-5/8" image size 

unsigned 

not stated 

pencil titled, lower right 

 

 

published 

artist 

19764 

$250.00 

From an albumen of photographic prints of Nikko, Japan. Photographed and hand-colored by Kusakabe, they were originally compiled in an accordian style with a laquered, decorated case and sold to Western tourists as keepsakes of their travels.

The first image is of the Koshin's, or Tao-based faith's, most well recognized symbol in the West, the Three Monkeys: Kikazaru (not hear), Iwazaru (not speak), and Mizaru (not see). These are symbols of the Koshin belief in not acknowledging another's bad deeds; in essence, to refrain from judgment.

The second image is of Cryptomeria Avenue, or Cedar Avenue. Named the longest tree-lined avenue in the world by the Guiness Book of World Records- despite being split into three sections - the Cedar Avenue was one of several highways built in the Edo period by the Tokugawa shogunate to provide easy, shaded travel from Japan's capital, Edo, to major provinces. The road to Nikko was considered especially important due to its ownership of the mausoleum and memorial shrines to the shogunate's founder. This road was lined with up to 200,000 cedars, planted and managed by the Nikko magistrate. Though many have died and the rest are considered endangered, they still line much of the avenue, which itself continues to be a source of interest to Japanese citizens and foreign travelers alike.