The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of November 28, 2023

Departure from Kashima

1336–92

Japan, Nanbokuchō period

(1336-92)

Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk

Overall: 212.7 x 63.3 cm (83 3/4 x 24 15/16 in.); Including mounting: 119.4 x 41 cm (47 x 16 1/8 in.)

The Worcester R. Warner Collection 1917.93

Location

not on view

Description

The kami Takemikazuchi from Kashima (in present-day Ibaraki Prefecture) departs on a white deer for Mount Mikasa in Nara, where he takes up residence. The five Kasuga kami are presented within a golden circle supported by the branches of a sakaki tree, from which trail five white paper streamers—indicating the purity and sacredness of the five shrine halls of the complex—as well as blossoming wisteria vines, a symbol of the Fujiwara family. The two figures walking along near the stag’s back legs are Nakatomi no Tokifū and his younger brother Hidetsura, who have followed Takemikazuchi and become priests of Kasuga Taisha.

Provenance
?–1917
Purchased with funds from Worcester R. Warner [1846–1929] and Cornelia Blakemore Warner [1858–1947] by Langdon Warner [1881–1955], as agent of the Cleveland Museum of Art
1917–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 909 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 276 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 279 archive.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 375 archive.org
Vilbar, Sinéad, and Kevin Gray Carr. Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 82-83, no. 28
Vilbar, Sinéad. "The Japanese Art Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1915-1951." In Great Waves & Mountains: Perspectives and Discoveries in Collecting the Arts of Japan. Natsu Oyobe, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds., 160–197. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 167–168, fig. 7.7
Exhibition history

The Past Century of Nara National Museum - From Preaching Scene of Shakyamuni to Picture Scroll of Kusamakura. Nara National Museum (organizer) (April 26-June 1, 1997).

Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art 神道－日本美術における神性の発見. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-June 30, 2019).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1917.93