3-000-260 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Gods of the old Japanese mythology: the War-God Maris descending on the Holy Boar, 1860. 'The winged figure to the left is Foo, and [the winged figure] to the right Tenyu... [who] represents the Japanese Mercury, or "herald of the gods". The land beneath is the land of Nippon, with its fiery mountains, its fertile valleys, and abundant rivers; and the personages in the foreground are Ten-tsi-ten-woo, the 39th Mikado, who reigned in Japan in the latter half of the seventh century of our era, the founder of public schools at the national expense for all classes of the people, and builder of a splendid temple in honour of Con-fut-zee, or Confucius. The figure seated on the ground represents Josimits, the Protector of the Mikados; and that on the right, with the uplifted arm, scattering roasted beans and driving away a dragon, is intended to personify the "People", in the character of "Paterfamilias", it being the custom for every head of a family on New-Year's Eve to traverse every part of his household and scatter roasted beans, wishing...that all good may enter and all evil depart from within his doors during the approaching twelvemonth'. From "Illustrated London News", 1860.