ILLUSTRATED:
Netsuke Familiar and Unfamiliar, No. 526

Hakuo excelled at carving manju netsuke. This unusual subject may represent the spirit of a biwa-hoshi or Buddhist priest reciting biwa-uta, compositions usually of a martial nature with a strong hint of Buddhist fatalism. This, and the fact that the biwa-hoshi were sometimes employed as spies, caused the authorities to frown on them