This float features the figures of two men. The man wearing a Chinese-style crown is Bai Letian ("Haku Rakuten" in Japanese), a Chinese poet during the Tang dynasty who is famous for his splendid poems like Changhenge. The other man with a priest's hood is Daolin, a Chinese priest of Zen Buddhism. This yama depicts the scene where Bai Letian questioned Daolin about what Buddhism is.
This float also has gone through a succession of cruel hardships. It lost the mainframe of its body and the torso parts of the figures in the great fires in 1788 and 1864. Each time, the float had to leave the parade to undergo restoration work. The front tapestry depicts one scene from the Trojan War.
By T.S. on 28th Jun., 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment