JUJO: A FINE WOOD NETSUKE OF HARE IN BOAT, KACHI-KACHI YAMABy Jujo (Toshinori), signed Jujo 壽乗 and kakihanJapan, Tokyo, late 19th centuryPublished: Meinertzhagen, Frederick / Lazarnick, George (1986) MCI, Part A, p. 280.Depicting a hare nestled inside a boat, one paw grabbing an oar and propelling itself along the waves which are carved to the side of the boat. The details are superbly carved and finished, the wood bearing a good polish. Large himotoshi to the underside and signed JUJO and kakihan. The artist was a pupil of Ryukosai Jugyoku.LENGTH 3.6 cmCondition: Excellent condition.The netsuke references a scene from the Kachi-kachi Yama folktale when a tanuki challenged a rabbit to a life and death contest to prove who was the better creature. They were each to build a boat and race across a lake. The rabbit carved its boat out of a fallen tree trunk, but the foolish tanuki made a boat of mud. At first, the two competitors were evenly matched, but the badger's mud boat began to dissolve in the middle of the lake and instead of saving the badger, the rabbit strikes him with an oar, and proclaimed his friendship with the innocent human couple whom the wicked tanuki had earlier inflicted upon its horrible deeds - thus revealing his revenge.Museum comparison:Compare to a closely related wood netsuke depicting the same subject, by Jugyoku, in the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, accession no. 11.23273.