Bunsei era (1818–1830) Donated by Saitō Shōji
The doll’s features are distinctive, but nevertheless retain a gentle expression. It is thought to have once held a chrysanthemum flower or brush in its right hand, but this has unfortunately been lost.
This doll is based on a Chinese story, in which a former boy attendant who once served Emperor Mu (r. 1001–946 BCE) of the Zhou Dynasty was exiled for the crime of walking across the pillow of the monarch, an unforgivable breach of palace decorum. While leading a secluded life in the countryside, he copied several verses of a sutra onto chrysanthemum leaves, and discovered that drinking the dewdrops gathering on the leaves granted him immortality. This story was adapted as a Noh play and has been performed for centuries.