UNSIGNED, EDO PERIOD (18TH CENTURY)

The triangular cross-section of this netsuke suggests that it was carved from a piece taken from near the end of the tusk. Kinko (in Chinese, Qin Gao) is supposed to have lived in the state of Zhao at the end of the Zhou dynasty (traditional dates: 1122-255 B.C.) or perhaps in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 221). Sent into exile by the king of Zhao, he wandered with his many followers to the bank of river, dived in and eventually emerged at an appointed hour riding on the back of a carp. He later dived in a second time and was never seen again. The story is recounted in Liexian zhuan [Stories of the immortals], an illustrated edition of which, Liexian quanzhuan, was published in China in 1600 and appears to have had a considerable influence on Edo-period decorative art1.

1 Shu Xincheng and others (ed.), Cihai [Chinese dictionary] (Shanghai, 1947), 897; Machida Shiritsu Kokusai Hanga Bijutsukan [Machida City Museum of Graphic Arts], Kinsei Nihon kaiga to gafu, etehon ten II [Exhibition of Japanese Early Modern Paintings, Albums and Illustrated Books, II] (Machida, 1990)