Edo period (1603–1868) Donated by Yokō Akino
Ōta Dōkan—also known as Ōta Sukenaga, or more commonly his Buddhist name Dōkan—was a warlord, military tactician, and Buddhist monk of the late Muromachi period (1336–1573). While he is most famous for having designed and built Edo Castle, many other anecdotes of him have been turned into stories, artworks and dolls.
This particular doll represents a scene from “The Legend of Yamabuki,” in which a peasant girl presents Dōkan with yamabuki flowers (kerria japonica, or Japanese rose bush) from the bushes surrounding her house instead of the straw raincoat (‘mino’) he requests when caught in the rain during a falconry hunt.
Dōkan was initially furious, but later realized that she was alluding to a well-known waka poem by Prince Kaneakira: the yamabuki blossoms are abundant with petals; despite this, sad to say, they bear no fruits (‘mino,’ also meaning ‘no fruits.’) The yellow blossoms surrounding her house bore no fruit: her family was too poor to even afford a raincoat. Humbled and ashamed of his ignorance, Dōkan devoted himself to the study of poetry.