Cleveland Museum of Art

The Saltmaker's Story

Date

early 1600s

Medium

One of a pair of handscrolls; ink, color, and gold on paper

Culture

Japan, Edo period (1615–1868)

Department

Japanese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Once read and copied by girls at New Year’s celebrations and included in dowries, The Saltmaker’s Story is a rags-to-riches tale in which daughters are gifts from the gods. Despite his simple outlook, the main character progresses from humble roots as an associate at Kashima Shrine to the elite status of grandfather of the emperor through the intervention of the Kashima deity. The Saltmaker’s Story is traditionally presented in a set of three scrolls, but the text of this set has been removed by a previous owner, who remounted the illustrations as a pair. The paintings of this one take us from right to left through the second half of the tale. This handscroll originally had texts before its paintings, but the texts were removed.

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