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Bourg-en-Bresse. Tomb of Philibert le Beau, Brou Church
Image by Cornell University Library
Collection: A. D. White Architectural Photographs, Cornell University Library
Accession Number: 15/5/3090.01302
Title: Bourg-en-Bresse. Tomb of Philibert le Beau, Brou Church
Sculptor: Conrad Meit
Building Date: 1505-1536
Photograph date: ca. 1865-ca. 1886
Location: Europe: France; Bourg-en-Bresse
Materials: albumen print
Image: 4.252 x 6.2992 in.; 10.8 x 16 cm
Style: Flamboyant Gothic
Provenance: Gift of Andrew Dickson White
Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/5tgq
There are no known copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
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Tanuki statues
Image by Stéfan
In front of a house, in Nara, Japan.
From Wikipedia :
Statues of tanuki can be found outside many Japanese temples and restaurants, especially noodle shops. These statues often wear big, cone-shaped hats and carry bottles of sake in one hand, and a promissory note (a bill it will never pay) or empty purse in the other hand. Tanuki statues always have large bellies. Older depictions of the tanuki show them as having large testicles as well, although this feature is often omitted in contemporary sculpture.
The comical image of the tanuki is thought to have developed during the Kamakura era. The actual wild tanuki has unusually large testicles, a feature that has inspired humorous exaggeration in artistic depictions of the creature. Tanuki may be shown with their testicles flung over their backs like travellers' packs, or using them as drums. As tanuki are also typically depicted as having large bellies, they may be depicted as drumming on their bellies instead of their testicles -- particularly in contemporary art.
A common schoolyard song in Japan (the tune of which can be heard in the arcade game Ponpoko and a variation of which is sung in the Studio Ghibli film Pom Poko) makes explicit reference to the tanuki's anatomy:
Tan Tan Tanuki no kintama wa,
Kaze mo nai no ni,
Bura bura
Roughly translated, this means "Tan-tan-tanuki's/Raccoon-raccoon-raccoon dog's testicles, there isn't even any wind but still go swing-swing-swing". It then proceeds to continue for several verses, with many regional variations. It is sung to the melody of an American Baptist hymn called "Shall We Gather At The River?".
During the Kamakura and Muromachi eras, some stories began to include more sinister tanuki. The Otogizoshi story of "Kachi-kachi Yama" features a tanuki that clubs an old lady to death and serves her to her unknowing husband as "old lady soup", an ironic twist on the folkloric recipe known as "tanuki soup". Other stories report tanuki as being harmless and productive members of society. Several shrines have stories of past priests who were tanuki in disguise. Shapeshifting tanuki are sometimes believed to be tsukumogami, a transformation of the souls of household goods that were used for one hundred years or more.
A popular tale known as Bunbuku chagama is about a tanuki who fooled a monk by transforming into a tea-kettle. Another is about a tanuki who tricked a hunter by disguising his arms as tree boughs, until he spread both arms at the same time and fell off the tree. Tanuki are said to cheat merchants with leaves they have magically disguised as paper money. Some stories describe tanuki as using leaves as part of their own shape-shifting magic.
In metalworking, tanuki skins were often used for thinning gold. As a result, tanuki became associated with precious metals and metalwork. Small tanuki statues were marketed as front yard decoration and good luck charm for bringing in prosperity. Also, this is why tanuki is described as having large kintama (金玉 lit. gold ball, means a testicle in Japanese slang).
Cleveland Portrait Campaign Ribbon
Image by Cornell University Library
Collection: Cornell University Collection of Political Americana, Cornell University Library
Repository: Susan H. Douglas Political Americana Collection, #2214 Rare & Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library, Cornell University
Title: Cleveland Portrait Campaign Ribbon
Political Party: Democratic
Date Made: ca. 1882-ca. 1896
Measurement: Ribbon: 4 1/2 x 2 1/2 in.; 11.43 x 6.35 cm
Classification: Costume
Persistent URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/60bt
There are no known U.S. copyright restrictions on this image. The digital file is owned by the Cornell University Library which is making it freely available with the request that, when possible, the Library be credited as its source.
