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The Saltmaker's Story
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Once read and copied by girls at New Year’s celebrations and included in dowries, The Saltmaker’s Story is a rags-to-riches tale in which daughters are gifts from the gods. Despite his simple outlook, the main character progresses from humble roots as an associate at Kashima Shrine to the elite status of grandfather of the emperor through the intervention of the Kashima deity. The Saltmaker’s Story is traditionally presented in a set of three scrolls, but the text of this set has been removed by a previous owner, who remounted the illustrations as a pair.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineThe Saltmaker's Story (文正草子), early 1600s. Japan, Edo period (1615–1868). Pair of handscrolls; ink, color, and gold on paper; overall: 17.7 x 917.5 cm (6 15/16 x 361 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1972.12
