There are several Japanese bronze sculptures at the National Trust’s Dyffryn Gardens in the Vale of Glamorgan, all of them donated by Grenville Morgan in 1951 or 1952. I’m afraid I don’t know much about the gentleman.
I will start with bronzes of a pair of fearsome nature gods, Fujin and Raijin, not currently on full display – or at least when I last saw them they were tucked away in a glasshouse.
According to a very good blog post on Japan Talk, statues of these two gods are found all over Japan at the entrances to shrines and temples, as protector deities.
With Japan’s long history of devastating typhoons and storms, it’s not surprising that Fujin and Raijin are feared and respected, but also considered to be unruly troublemakers.
In traditional depictions Fujin carries the winds in a bag over his shoulders and he has four fingers on each hand – one for each of the four main wind directions. When he is depicted in colour, he has green skin and red hair.
Then there is his partner Raijin, the Japanese god of thunder, lightning and storms.
As depictions of Raijin go, this is a bit disappointing. The god is supposed to be shown surrounded by drums and holding a hammer. This one just has a bag over his shoulder – presumably not a windbag this time but a bag of rain. He is shown with the traditional three fingers of Raijin, representing past, present and future.
The National Trust doesn’t seem to be able to tell us anything more about these two bronzes.
Perhaps the best known bronze at Dyffryn is the one depicting an oriental man reading a book while riding an ox. The man is possibly a Japanese scholar and courtier called Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), and the sculpture was possibly made by Takamura Kōun (1852-1934).
The story goes that When Michizane’s enemies had him expelled from court a faithful ox carried him into exile. Later he was worshipped as patron of scholars and deity of calligraphy.
Finally we have the bronze dragon bowl fountain in the middle of the long formal pond in front of the mansion at Dyffryn Gardens.
My other blog posts about Dyffryn Gardens can be found here.
I recognized Fujin right away, with his bag of wind. He visits us a lot this time of year!
Somehow I didn’t think you had windy weather where you live, as you are not on the coast. Silly, I know, as you probably have tornados.
Now I am imagining tumbleweed rolling along in the dusty street of a cowboy ghost town…
All the best 🙂
You are absolutely right, Pat! I live on the west edge of town and when the wind blows hard, tumbleweeds come tumbling my way, along with lots of dust.
Do you wear a cowboy hat and chaps, too? Yee-haw!
Sorry, that’s such a stereotype!
Hope spring comes soon for you 🙂
The man on the ox reading a book is really a nice piece. The Fujin is very scary though.
Yes, the man on an ox is definitely the best piece there.
All the best 🙂
I knew none of this, thanks for the introduction Pat, Fujin and Raijin look as ferocious as they sound and feel up here, the drum and hammer had me thinking of Peter (hammered with one hammer, one hammer, ……..) I used to work with the under fives,
I love the Man on an ox reading a book, I have seen small ornaments of this but never knew the story behind it, thanks, Frances
It was all new to me, too, until I looked it up. Which is why I love blogging.
I wonder how you have fared with all the “named” storms we have had this year?
I think Katie missed us the other night and went further to the South East. You just never know which one will get you. For us it was Imogen.
All the best – and with your French lessons 🙂
Those sculptures are wonderful, it’s surprising that the National Trust doesn’t have very much information about them. My favourite is the man on the ox. Sarah x
They have not been running Dyffryn Gardens for all that long, so maybe they will get around to it eventually. At the moment they are still gradually refurbishing the garden “rooms” and “dressing” the house.
The man on the ox seems to be everyone’s favourite!
All the best 🙂
Wonderful sculptures, I love the fierce-looking ones and am a great fan of dragons. I particularly loved the scholar reading whilst atop his ox.
Strangely everyone likes the old gentleman and the ox! Quite a soothing image.
All the best 🙂