clothes wrapping; wrapping cloth; furushiki

Embroidered wrapping cloth depicting a standing figure with a turtle on his back, with his staff and a container lying on the ground next to him. Behind him is an expanse of blue sea. Represents Urashimatarou, who saw some children hitting a turtle and told them to stop. The turtle was very grateful and invited him to the eternal land, the Palace of the Ocean King represented in the background, and there he spent a few days relaxing. After that he returned to his own country and the queen of the eternal land gave him a present, a little box. When he opened it he became an old man. Here he is being accompanied by the turtle. Turtles as lucky symbols usually have a long tail because in Japan people say they live ten thousand years so the tail indicates the age.

Collection Information

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