Cloisonne beads in 19th century Japanese Buddhist rosaries
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Posted by: beadiste Post Reply
05/19/2017, 13:34:33

Frederick -

I was going through the Internet Archive online version of James Bowes 1884 book, Japanese Enamels, and stumbled upon a reference to beads:

180. A collection of beads (judzu), the entire surfaces of which are enamelled. They were used in the rosaries of the monks in Japan.

The Meiji Restoration was responsible for the separation of Buddhism from Shinto, with widespread destruction of Buddhist property and monks forced to convert to Shinto.

What's your take on the possibility of these enamelled rosary beads surviving and winding up being sold to foreigners after 1858 (when the Perry expedition forced the opening of more ports)? Those ojime beads in the Victoria and Albert arrived in 1867, one year before the 1868 Meiji Restoration.



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