The World of Senjefuda
Senjafuda 千社札 literally means “thousand-shrine slip,” a term that refers to the phenomenon’s roots in religious pilgrimage. An alternate term used by scholars and collectors is nōsatsu 納札, “donation slip.” To understand what senjafuda are today requires understanding a little about what they used to be in the past.
Senjafuda were originally slips of paper that a pilgrim would paste on a temple or shrine wall or gate, a practice some people still follow today. Slips used for pasting are typically white with black writing that identifies the paster by a pseudonym—called a daimei 題名—and occasionally other elements (such as a house crest or shop logo). Originally senjafuda for pasting could be handwritten, but usually they were woodblock-printed. Senjafuda for pasting were made in a variety of sizes and shapes.
As senjafuda became collector’s items, made for exchange rather than pasting, the size was standardized at about 15 cm (5 in.) high by 5 cm (2 in.) wide. Slips made for exchange can feature complicated pictorial and/or design motifs rendered in full color, but they retain traces of their origins in pasting slips by including the daimei of the person or name of the group that sponsored or commissioned them. As works of art, therefore, senjafuda typically combine both pictorial and verbal elements, with the writing being an integral part of the overall composition.
Similarly, many senjafuda designs came to exceed the standard size, but they were always conceived of in terms of the standard single slip. When used as a unit of size, the slip is called a chō 丁. A single design may therefore occupy two, four, or even larger numbers of slips (i.e., 2 chō, 4 chō, etc.). The design may be formally interrupted by the borders of its individual component slips (meaning it can only be fully appreciated by setting several slips side by side), or it may be continuous, with the edges of the component slips being depicted as if sticking out from behind the design. Part of the fun of senjafuda is how they play with the restrictions imposed by their small size.
Below are three slips each depicting the same motif: Shōki (Zhong Kui in Chinese), a mythical queller of demons. From left, the first is a standard one-chō senjafuda depicting Shōki treading on an oni. The sponsor’s daimei (“Chikamatsu”) may be seen in a block on the top left. Next is a two-chō senjafuda showing Shōki wrestling one oni while another flees in the background; the sponsor’s daimei (“Yamazen”) may be seen in the top right. Note that the edges of the two component slips may be seen peeking out from behind the main design, an indication that this may be thought of as comprising two slips. Third is another two-chō senjafuda showing Shōki chasing away an oni; in this case the edges of the two component slips can also be seen in the center of the composition, dividing the background while Shōki and the oni leap across the frames, so to speak. The brushwork in the third slip is not quite as fine as in the second, but the way the figures cross between the component slips lends the composition a dynamic quality that the second one lacks.
Alternatively, a single slip may contain a self-contained design but be designed as part of a larger group or series of related motifs. This kind of senjafuda can be appreciated as individual works of art but also collectively, as ensembles. Both large multi-slip images and single-slip series are typically produced as group efforts, commissioned as the collective self-representation of a club of senjafuda aficionados. One of the fascinations of senjafuda is the glimpse they give us of social networking among the groups that commissioned, collected, and sometimes pasted senjafuda.
Below are three slips from a series of seasonal motifs. The purple square at the top of each slip contains the daimei in calligraphy; the orange square behind it identifies the season. The slip on the left (“summer”) shows Shōki being startled by Kintarō (a boy of legendary strength who figures in medieval folk tales). The one in the middle (“summer”) shows a large fan and a mask (possibly a beshimi mask from the noh theater, often used for monsters). The one on the right (“autumn”) shows another mask, a hannya or demoness from the noh theatrical tradition, with a striped cane often used as a prop by actors wearing this mask. Each slip may be appreciated on its own or collectively, as part of a playful representation of seasonal motifs (in which yōkai play only a small part).
Below are three slips from a series of seasonal motifs. The purple square at the top of each slip contains the daimei in calligraphy; the orange square behind it identifies the season. The slip on the left (“summer”) shows Shōki being startled by Kintarō (a boy of legendary strength who figures in medieval folk tales). The one in the middle (“summer”) shows a large fan and a mask (possibly a beshimi mask from the noh theater, often used for monsters). The one on the right (“autumn”) shows another mask, a hannya or demoness from the noh theatrical tradition, with a striped cane often used as a prop by actors wearing this mask. Each slip may be appreciated on its own or collectively, as part of a playful representation of seasonal motifs (in which yōkai play only a small part).
Below are three slips from a series of seasonal motifs. The purple square at the top of each slip contains the daimei in calligraphy; the orange square behind it identifies the season. The slip on the left (“summer”) shows Shōki being startled by Kintarō (a boy of legendary strength who figures in medieval folk tales). The one in the middle (“summer”) shows a large fan and a mask (possibly a beshimi mask from the noh theater, often used for monsters). The one on the right (“autumn”) shows another mask, a hannya or demoness from the noh theatrical tradition, with a striped cane often used as a prop by actors wearing this mask. Each slip may be appreciated on its own or collectively, as part of a playful representation of seasonal motifs (in which yōkai play only a small part).
Pasting senjafuda
Senjafuda have their roots in religious observance. The ja 社 in senjafuda 千社札 refers to Shintō shrines, and there’s historical evidence that senjafuda culture grew out of devotion to the god Inari, a harvest god worshipped at thousands of shrines throughout Japan. But Buddhism is just as important to senjafuda culture as Shintō: slips were and are also pasted at Buddhist temples, and many senjafuda include Buddhist motifs. The first slip above relates to Inari worship, and therefore has Shintō connections. The most recognizable is the distinctive double-linteled torii gate seen before every Shrintō shrine (here we’re looking through several in a row). The slip on the right is a representation of the Buddhist conception of Hell, with King Enma judging newly-dead sinners. The swastika-like design on Enma’s desk is an ancient Buddhist symbol still widely used today (and should not be confused with the Nazi swastika)!
Origins and Offerings
The practice of pasting senjafuda can be thought of as a specialized variant of the practice of giving offerings to seek blessings or accrue spiritual merit. An offering can be as simple as a few coins tossed into the offertory box found at the threshold of a shrine before praying to the god worshipped there. Or it can be as complicated as copying out an entire Buddhist sutra by hand and presenting it to a temple (a common form of devotion in premodern times). Buildings, icons, and furnishings are commonly presented or funded as offerings, often with the donor or donors identified by name in recognition of their devotion.
One common form of offering is the ema 絵馬, a kind of devotional plaque. Ema literally means “picture horse,” a name that nods to the legendary history of the practice. Anciently, horses were given as gifts to shrines, but then pictures of horses came to be substituted for the real thing; eventually these pictorial offerings came to depict other themes than horses. Ema can take the form of large paintings on wood of religious or historical themes, commissioned by devotees and presented to temples or shrines for display in special buildings. They can also take the form of small wooden plaques with a simple pictorial design unique to each temple or shrine; devotees can buy the ema at the temple or shrine, write a prayer on the back, and hang it at a designated spot on the temple or shrine grounds (or keep the plaque as a souvenir). Ema are a common motif in pictorial senjafuda, perhaps to remind collectors of the larger tradition of votive offerings of which senjafuda are a part. The Starr collection contains senjafuda reproducing large painted ema and many, many slips depicting the smaller ema sold at temples and shrines.
The two senjafuda above depict large painted ema. The one on the left shows the medieval legend of the slaying of the nue. The nue was a chimerical creature (part monkey, part snake, part other animals, depending on the source) that, according to early stories, menaced the Imperial palace until the warrior Minamoto no Yorimasa shot it down with an arrow; his retainer I no Hayata administered the coup de grace with a blade. The next senjafuda shows another medieval legend, that of Ibaraki Dōji, an oni who tangled with warrior hero Watanabe no Tsuna. In their first encounter, Tsuna cut off Ibaraki Dōji’s arm; later the demon visited Tsuna’s house disguised as his aunt and stole back his arm. Both of these senjafuda take the form of large painted ema made for presentation to a temple or shrine, with black lacquer frames with metal ornaments completing the illusion.
The next three all depict the smaller ema sold at temples and shrines. The first one shows two children, presumably on their way back from a visit to an Inari shrine; the one on the right holds a small fox figurine on a stand, while the one on the left shoulders a wooden plaque with two foxes drawn on it. Incidentally, this is a one-chō senjafuda divided into four quarter-size slips; the top two are occupied by the picture of the children, while the bottom two are devoted to separate daimei, and the one on the bottom right is framed as a large presentational ema would be. The next slip shows an ema belonging to the Kijin Shrine; ema produced by the shrine sport this distinctively sketchy pair of oni. The final slip shows another Kijin ema along with one depicting a sumo match (sumo wrestling also has historical connections with Shintō worship), against a background design of ema shapes.
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