by TORTURE IN EDO-ERA JAPAN
Scroll (450 x 5330 mm.), many richly colored paintings pasted on (several images defective or suffering from abrasion), silver-speckled front inner endpaper, blue & black silk brocade (rather worn) on outside. [Japan]: late Edo.
In Edo period Japan, criminal punishment without confession, no matter how much evidence had been assembled, was not allowed in principle, and torture therefore was at the center of the investigative process. Our scroll depicts the steps of detention of suspects, the process of obtaining confessions (involving many kinds of torture, all illustrated here), and final punishments, including decapitation. Notably, a good number of the suspects are female.
Our scroll begins with four scenes depicting the forcible capture of suspects by policemen (dōshin 同心) who are using spears and other instruments. One of these images is quite heartbreaking, showing a policeman roping a woman into submission and separating her from her young daughter. Another shows a samurai penned-in by 12 policemen who are trying to subdue him.
The next sequence of images depicts the suspects being restrained in various ways by rope, cangue, and leg chains while being transported to prison, in detention, and in court. These are followed by several courtroom scenes where the judges (Edo machi-bugyō 江戸町奉行) question the suspects, trying to extract confessions.
Failing to obtain ready confessions, the progress to the next step. We witness torture of various kinds, including beatings while clothed or naked, with a very heavy rope; placing heavy slabs of granite on the suspects and beating them with ropes; tightly tying up a suspect in the shape of a ball, and the “suspension” method of hoisting up the suspect by a rope attached to the armsm, pinioned and tied behind the back. Prisoners in the background are witnessing this.
Next, we see the punishments of convicted criminals. One man is being given a tattoo on his arm before being exiled. This is followed by a touching scene of a shipload of convicts leaving the port, with their relatives waving goodbye. There are scenes of further rope beatings of suspects bound in very painful positions. Another image depicts a convicted samurai preparing to commit seppuku in lieu of death by others.
And now we turn to capital punishment. The first image shows a criminal about to be decapitated. For those sentenced to die, this was preferable to other methods of execution. Suspects were paraded about town before execution (we see two criminals, one a woman, bound and on horseback, being led by many policemen to the execution grounds). In the next scenes, we see their decapitated bodies and their severed heads being put on public display. Another scene shows a man cutting a decapitated body in half. In the final three scenes, we see an upright man confined by an iron frame being burned to death with an adjacent woman awaiting the same fate. Next is an image of two convicts being crucified, and the final scene shows the head of a decapitated criminal.
Very good condition. Preserved in a wooden box. (Inventory #: 10808)
In Edo period Japan, criminal punishment without confession, no matter how much evidence had been assembled, was not allowed in principle, and torture therefore was at the center of the investigative process. Our scroll depicts the steps of detention of suspects, the process of obtaining confessions (involving many kinds of torture, all illustrated here), and final punishments, including decapitation. Notably, a good number of the suspects are female.
Our scroll begins with four scenes depicting the forcible capture of suspects by policemen (dōshin 同心) who are using spears and other instruments. One of these images is quite heartbreaking, showing a policeman roping a woman into submission and separating her from her young daughter. Another shows a samurai penned-in by 12 policemen who are trying to subdue him.
The next sequence of images depicts the suspects being restrained in various ways by rope, cangue, and leg chains while being transported to prison, in detention, and in court. These are followed by several courtroom scenes where the judges (Edo machi-bugyō 江戸町奉行) question the suspects, trying to extract confessions.
Failing to obtain ready confessions, the progress to the next step. We witness torture of various kinds, including beatings while clothed or naked, with a very heavy rope; placing heavy slabs of granite on the suspects and beating them with ropes; tightly tying up a suspect in the shape of a ball, and the “suspension” method of hoisting up the suspect by a rope attached to the armsm, pinioned and tied behind the back. Prisoners in the background are witnessing this.
Next, we see the punishments of convicted criminals. One man is being given a tattoo on his arm before being exiled. This is followed by a touching scene of a shipload of convicts leaving the port, with their relatives waving goodbye. There are scenes of further rope beatings of suspects bound in very painful positions. Another image depicts a convicted samurai preparing to commit seppuku in lieu of death by others.
And now we turn to capital punishment. The first image shows a criminal about to be decapitated. For those sentenced to die, this was preferable to other methods of execution. Suspects were paraded about town before execution (we see two criminals, one a woman, bound and on horseback, being led by many policemen to the execution grounds). In the next scenes, we see their decapitated bodies and their severed heads being put on public display. Another scene shows a man cutting a decapitated body in half. In the final three scenes, we see an upright man confined by an iron frame being burned to death with an adjacent woman awaiting the same fate. Next is an image of two convicts being crucified, and the final scene shows the head of a decapitated criminal.
Very good condition. Preserved in a wooden box. (Inventory #: 10808)
(917) 294-2678![Calligraphic scroll on fine torinoko paper, attributed to Nakamura Kyūetsu, of the story “Mushi no uta awase” 虫の歌合 [“Poetry Match of Insects”], entitled, following the Preface, “Jūgo ban uta awase. Hanja hikigaeru” 十五番歌合. 判者 薮本蟇 [“15 Poetry Matches. Judged by a Toad”]](https://d3525k1ryd2155.cloudfront.net/h/600/433/1668433600.0.m.jpg)
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