Skip to main content
66
ArtistJapanese, 1750–1837
Japanese

Dazaifu Shrine (Dazaifu usokaezu)

Hanging scroll, ink on silk
Overall: 48 3/8 × 13 11/16 in. (122.8 × 34.7 cm)
EX.2023.NW.129

“Transforming lies into truths.”

 

Located near Fukuoka on Kyushu, Dazaifu is a Shinto shrine. Each year on January 7, Dazaifu’s visitors can come and purchase a carved wooden figure of a bird, or uso, which can be seen in this painting at lower right. Uso is a homophone for both the bullfinch bird (Pyrrhula pyrrhula) and a lie; as such, the carvings are thought to possess the magical ability to transform lies into truth, as the inscription states.

—Bradley Bailey