The Saltmaker's Story
Unknown Artist
early 1600s
Medium
One of a pair of handscrolls; ink, color, and gold on paper
Dimensions
17.7 × 917.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Japanese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1972.12.1
About this artwork
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...