![Sasayaki Take [The Whispering Bamboo], A Narrative Scroll](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2003/CKS/2003_CKS_06733_0243_000(061007).jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The plot of this otogizoshi [medieval tale] goes as follows. Troubled by prolonged drought and epidemics, the Emperor commissions a dance to the Dragon God which produces not the expected rain but a heavenly maiden. She attributes the Emperor's troubles to the negligence of the present Chief Advisor but tells him that if he places his faith in the deity Tamonten of Kurama, order will be restored to the land. Meanwhile the childless Saemon no Jo and his wife are at last blessed with a daughter after a vigil at the shrine of this same Tamonten. When she reaches the age of fourteen, the girl attracts the attention of the Chief Advisor, who is told that she is a manifestation of the Buddha and that if he puts his faith in Tamonten he will eventually unite them in matrimony. Not knowing this, her father seeks the advice of Bishop Saikobo of Kurama as to how he should find her a suitable husband, but Saikobo abandons his vow of celibacy and decides to seduce her himself. He tricks the parents into sending her to him, carried in a chest by drunken porters who fall asleep en route. At that moment the Chief Advisor comes upon the chest and to his amazement finds the girl, whom he brings back to the Capital after putting a cow in the chest in her place.
When the carriers awake and bring the chest to Saikobo's temple, the cow emerges and makes a shambles of the Bishop's quarters. It is at this point that the present Lot begins. News of this development spreads through the locality and people came from all around to see the Bishop's cow-bride, their laughter even reaching the ears of the warrior-monks on Mount Hiei, who assume that some dispute has arisen, and a general melee ensures. The Bishop attempts to explain away the situation but one of those present notices that the cow is his and demands it back. Saikobo is struck by a bolt of lightning and found torn asunder hanging from a cypress tree, but later becomes the mountain's guardian deity.
The girl and the Chief Advisor pass a passionate night together in the Capital and she becomes his wife. Saemon no Jo is promoted to court rank and the girl wins over the other wives by her erudition and bearing. Soon she gives birth to a 'jewel of a young lord' and they all live happily ever after.
For further information see Frederick Kavanagh, 'An Errant Priest: Sasayaki Take', Monumenta Nipponica 51/2 (1996), pp. 219-244; Osone Shosuke (ed.), Nihon koten bungaku daijiten [Dictionary of classical Japanese literature] (Tokyo:Meiji Shoin, 1998), pp. 59-60; Tokuda Kazuo, Otogizoshi jiten [Dictionary of otogizoshi] (Tokyo: Tokyodo, 2002), pp. 266-267. We are grateful to Dr. John Carpenter for assistance in identifying this scroll.
When the carriers awake and bring the chest to Saikobo's temple, the cow emerges and makes a shambles of the Bishop's quarters. It is at this point that the present Lot begins. News of this development spreads through the locality and people came from all around to see the Bishop's cow-bride, their laughter even reaching the ears of the warrior-monks on Mount Hiei, who assume that some dispute has arisen, and a general melee ensures. The Bishop attempts to explain away the situation but one of those present notices that the cow is his and demands it back. Saikobo is struck by a bolt of lightning and found torn asunder hanging from a cypress tree, but later becomes the mountain's guardian deity.
The girl and the Chief Advisor pass a passionate night together in the Capital and she becomes his wife. Saemon no Jo is promoted to court rank and the girl wins over the other wives by her erudition and bearing. Soon she gives birth to a 'jewel of a young lord' and they all live happily ever after.
For further information see Frederick Kavanagh, 'An Errant Priest: Sasayaki Take', Monumenta Nipponica 51/2 (1996), pp. 219-244; Osone Shosuke (ed.), Nihon koten bungaku daijiten [Dictionary of classical Japanese literature] (Tokyo:Meiji Shoin, 1998), pp. 59-60; Tokuda Kazuo, Otogizoshi jiten [Dictionary of otogizoshi] (Tokyo: Tokyodo, 2002), pp. 266-267. We are grateful to Dr. John Carpenter for assistance in identifying this scroll.