Project Description
Wood Netsuke of a Massage Scene, by Tadatoshi
Signed in ukibori within a rectangular reserve. Nagoya. Circa 1840
A blind masseur crouches, tightly gripping the right thigh of his naked female client while he prepares to pummel her with his left elbow. She meanwhile pushes one hand against the floor in an attempt to save her face from being ground into it. The masseur’s face is tense with the effort and the woman’s expression is one of suffering. If it were not for the masseur’s loincloth, one might put an altogether different interpretation on the whole violent scene
Length: 4.1 cm
Published: Scholten Japanese Art, Expressions of Style: Netsuke as Art, 2001, no. 24
