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Lot Essay
The protagonist depicted here, Yuten (1637-1718), is the thirty-sixth abbot of Zōjō-ji, the main Jōdo-shū (Pure Land) Buddhist temple in the Kanto region, located at Tokyo.
The cover of this beautiful box illustrates the famous story of the young Yuten’s moment of awakening. As an unintelligent disciple, he was expelled from the temple by failing to recite sutras. While praying for Fudō Myōō to offer him wisdom, he dreamed of the wrathful deity stabbing a kurikara sword through his throat; upon waking, he was enlightened and empowered. Yuten succeeded to be an outstanding priest prized by the Tokugawa clan.
As a pupil of Unno Yoshimori I (1785-1862), Moritoshi accomplished to be a metal sword fittings expert under the Mito School, modern-day Ibaraki prefecture where he studied metalwork before moving to Edo after the Meiji restoration. Moritoshi’s son Unno Yoshimori II (1864-1919) is also a successful metalwork artist who taught at Tokyo School of Fine Art and was appointed Teishitsu Gigei-In (Imperial Household Artist) in 1892.
The cover of this beautiful box illustrates the famous story of the young Yuten’s moment of awakening. As an unintelligent disciple, he was expelled from the temple by failing to recite sutras. While praying for Fudō Myōō to offer him wisdom, he dreamed of the wrathful deity stabbing a kurikara sword through his throat; upon waking, he was enlightened and empowered. Yuten succeeded to be an outstanding priest prized by the Tokugawa clan.
As a pupil of Unno Yoshimori I (1785-1862), Moritoshi accomplished to be a metal sword fittings expert under the Mito School, modern-day Ibaraki prefecture where he studied metalwork before moving to Edo after the Meiji restoration. Moritoshi’s son Unno Yoshimori II (1864-1919) is also a successful metalwork artist who taught at Tokyo School of Fine Art and was appointed Teishitsu Gigei-In (Imperial Household Artist) in 1892.