Following Rabbit Tracks into the Twilight Realm

2023/01/17

This ceramic rabbit, with its plump form and short, braced front legs, is a hand warmer (hibachi) cherished by Izumi Kyoka, a literary figure who depicted worlds of romance and fantasy.

The Mita Media Center at Keio University houses items related to Kyoka donated by his bereaved family. At the "Kyoka's Study" exhibition held at Maruzen Marunouchi Main Store in 2016, furnishings such as writing desks, folding screens, and small chests, as well as stationery, original manuscripts, and kimonos were displayed, drawing enthusiastic fans daily. Standing out within the Kyoka Collection is a group of over 100 rabbits. Kyoka, who was born in the Year of the Rooster, collected and cherished rabbit objects of various materials—wood, papier-mâché, ceramic, and cast metal—ranging from fingertip-sized miniatures to large items like hand warmers, as amulets of his opposite zodiac sign.

Izumi Kyoka is an author with deep ties to Mita, having contributed to the early issues of "Mita Bungaku" and giving a lecture at the Great Hall in Mita in 1923. Behind the donation of his personal effects to Keio University lies a deep friendship between Kyoka and the Mita-school literati—Takitaro Minakami and Mantaro Kubota. In particular, Takitaro Minakami was so enamored with Kyoka that when he left Japan for a long period to travel abroad, he asked his close ally Kubota to check all of Kyoka's works published during his absence, and even took his pen name from a character in one of Kyoka's stories.

The KeMCo New Year Exhibition 2023, "A Vacant Lot Where Rabbits Lurk" (January 10 – February 9), introduces the "Ku-ku-ku-kai" (999 Society), for which Takitaro Minakami served as the first organizer, alongside Kyoka's rabbit collection. The Ku-ku-ku-kai was a monthly gathering centered around Kyoka, attended by Takitaro Minakami, Mantaro Kubota, Settai Komura, Saburosuke Okada, Ton Satomi, and others. Through materials from the Mita Bungaku Library and the Juku collection, the exhibition depicts the interactions of the people surrounding Kyoka.

By the way, it is not only Kyoka's rabbits lurking in "A Vacant Lot Where Rabbits Lurk." Rabbits emerging from diverse specialized fields—such as bronze mirrors from the Tang Dynasty, Latin Books of Hours, and stage sets for avant-garde dance—have gathered in the vacant lot. Please come and see for yourself the presence of Kyoka's hand warmer surrounded by its various peers.

(Yu Homma, Assistant Professor, Keio Museum Commons)