Stag antler netsuke with Shoki, the Demon Queller

Kyoto school

18th 19th century

Stag antler netsuke

Height 7,8 cm

 

Shoki is represented standing with his sword on his right hand. 

Shōki’s popularity peaked in Japan during the Edo period, when people began to hang images of Shōki outside their houses to ward off evil spirits during the Boys' Day festival and to adorn the eaves and entrances of their homes with ceramic statues of the deity. Today, Shōki is a minor deity relatively neglected or forgotten by most Japanese, except perhaps in Kyoto city, where residents still adorn the eaves and rooftops of their homes with Shōki’s effigy to ward off evil and illness and to protect the male heir to the family.

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