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Follow the sweeping strokes of the robe from the clawed foot at the bottom up to the face, caught halfway between old woman and demon.
This drawing prepared a wooden plaque that a union of wholesalers offered at a shrine, asking the gods for help in business. The demon Ibaraki-dōji, disguised as an old woman, snatches back the arm a warrior had cut off, midway through changing back into demon form. The Cleveland Museum of Art explains the message: the union wanted back its right to sell sugar, which the government had taken away in an ill-judged effort to steady the economy.
hanging scroll, ink on paper · Overall: 214.6 x 195.5 cm · Cleveland Museum of Art
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Details and source
- Museum title
- Sketch of Ibaraki-dōji
- Artist
- Shibata Zeshin (Japanese, 1807–1891)
- Date
- c. 1840
- Medium
- hanging scroll, ink on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 214.6 x 195.5 cm (84 1/2 x 76 15/16 in.); Mounted: 205.2 x 185.2 cm (80 13/16 x 72 15/16 in.); Painting only: 161 x 172.2 cm (63 3/8 x 67 13/16 in.)
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
- Image license
- CC0 1.0 · Public domain
- Museum record
- Cleveland Museum of Art
Artist’s life 1807–1891
View in the AtlasGaller’s rooms and hanging scale are imagined. The image is the museum’s original digital reproduction.