Meet the Ogres!

The  Ogre-in-Chief we are hunting is Shuten Doji who can assume human form at will, is partial to human flesh and especially fond of sake....... He is the sixth devil of the 'World of Desires' and sometimes known as 'The Drunken Devil' It does seem curious that the artist chose to make the worst demon of all an overweight long haired blond?

The story is so old and well known that there have been numerous attempts to portray this particular ogre. Throughout the project we will be investigating how he has appeared elsewhere to compare this portrayal with  other paintings and prints.

Such is the  notoriety of Shoten Doji that just his demonic arm also features in this charming Japanese crepe paper book (These books are called chirimenbon and will be featured in a later blog) 

http://www.archive.org/stream/japanesefairytalse01no18thom

Polderfun ?

Its Poldercross..... and involves a combination of open water swimming, cross country running and repeatedly jumping into very muddy stinking dykes for over 10k. More than five hundred people recently took part in this annual 'attraction' just outside Leiden and incredibly seemed to find the entire thing enormously amusing ?

This was however only a temporary distraction for those intent on hunting Ogres........

The Hunt is on !!!!

The  Ōeyama emaki (Hunting the Ogres) are a set of three hand scrolls that comprise of twenty-four paintings and their accompanying text panels. Dating from the early seventeenth century, altogether they measure over forty-two gory meters. The conservation work is scheduled over the next three years and those of a strong disposition are most welcome to follow the hunt ...and the conservation of these extraordinary scrolls.

.......something strange was happening in Kyoto.  Beautiful young women began to disappear without trace. First there were five, then ten, until more than thirty women had vanished. In desperation an Oracle was consulted and he confirms the worst - Ogres were indeed responsible.They were capable of assuming human form at will, and they were partial to drinking blood and feasting on human flesh. The Emperor then commanded six formidable samurai disguised as Buddhist pilgrims to hunt down the Ogres and destroy them ..........

We are now busy documenting the condition of the scrolls prior to conservation so the hunt has now begun !

 

Restorient are today heading back to the Chester Beatty Library for the last session of Bamboo Cutting. There will be a talk on Thursday 26th for the friends of the Library with a demonstration of tools and materials used in the conservation of the hand scrolls. Then on Friday 27th July there will be the final public lecture "The Story behind the Tale". The exhibition closes on the 5th August.

We will be announcing the new project on our return to 
Leiden...... and it is horrible !

Orange Orange Orange

Whilst we continue preparations for the start of the next project it has not escaped our attention that once again the Dutch Voetbal team are in a competition......

Should things go well we have taken the precaution of stocking up on something appropriate to show our support for Dutch colleagues.

* Update - The Dutch flag was been flown at half mast yesterday evening outside the Brandweer (Fire Station) !!!

 Netherlands 0 Denmark 1

It is going to be a long week in Holland .............

 

See the Story....

The finished hand scrolls were collected from the Restorient Studio and returned to Dublin at the end of April and are now on display in the the galleries of the Chester Beatty Library. There's plenty of time to visit the exhibition as it runs through until the 5^th August.  As well as featuring two fabulous seven meter sections of each scroll, there are panels detailing different aspects of the conservation work to illustrate just some of the many processes involved .   

To compliment the exhibition the Library is running a series of events ranging from classes in origami, films, Japanese paper workshops, and even a workshop on making Japanese screens. The full events listing can be found on the Library website  http://www.cbl.ie  As part of this programme Restorient gave a public talk "The Story behind the Tale" on Friday 11th May and this will be repeated again on 27th July.

 

It has been an amazing experience to conserve " The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter " and it is especially satisfying to see the paintings so beautifully displayed and now in good condition for future generations to enjoy.

Followers of this blog should be aware this is not the end !!!!  We will be posting news of a fascinating new project in the near future.......