Netsuke "Fukurokuju" (Shoko Nishino) 根付「福禄寿（西野昇己）」

Japanese follows English. 英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This 3 cm tall sculpture is netsuke "Fukurokuju" on show at Tokyo National Museum this March. It was carved by Shoko Nishino from wood.

"Fukurokuju" by Shoko Nishino, ivory 「福禄寿」西野昇己作 象牙

Fukurokuju, one of the seven lucky gods in Japan, is the god of wisdom, luck, longevity, wealth and happiness, and characterized by the size of his head almost as large as the size of his whole body. Fukurokuju is so popular that it interested not only Shoko Nishino, but other netsuke carvers. See the following posts to compare various Fukurokuju:

- "Fukurokuju" by Ryushi Komada
- "Ancestor Fukurokuju" by Michael Birch

- "Fukurokuju" by Seiho Azuma

Another interesting thing is that Shoko Nishino's Fukurokuju (above photo) and the third listed "Fukurokuju" by Seiho Azuma look very alike for a reason. The latter is a copy of the former. We can learn many things through imitation. Seiho Azuma must also have learned something through copying Shoko Nishino's Fukurokuju...

 

A netsuke is a small carved ornament, especially of ivory or wood, worn as part of Japanese traditional dress as a toggle by which an article may be attached to the sash of a kimono (Source: Lexico). If you love netsuke, see this list to see more than 40 netsuke items!

(If you wish to post your comment but don't have a Google account, select "anonymous" from the drop down menu titled "comment as"!)

東京国立博物館の西野昇己「福禄寿」です。福禄寿は根付作家に人気があるようで、下のような福禄寿も彫られています。

- 「福禄寿」駒田柳之作、象牙
- 「福禄寿」マイケル・バーチ作、鹿角

- 「福禄寿（昇己 写し）」東声方作、黄楊

面白いのが、3つ目の東声方の福禄寿は上の西野昇己の福禄寿の写し。そっくりです。是非比べてみてください。根付にご興味ある方はこちらのリストもどうぞ。40以上の根付を掲載しています！

(Google アカウントを持ってない方は、コメント記入後に「Google アカウント」をクリックし、「匿名」か「名前/URL」を選択してからご記入ください！)