Japanese Works : Nezumi no sōshi

Japanese Works

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This handwritten story about a Buddhist monk's encounter with a mouse has been illustrated with coloured paints. Originally made as a scroll, it was changed to a senpūyō 旋風葉 style of binding (a form of folding book binding). The title of 'Nezumi no sōshi' is familiar to Japanese medieval literature, but the story contained in Cambridge's copy is unique. A Zen priest who was disturbed by a mouse at a night attained a kind of spiritual enlightenment through trying to chastise the mouse, and entered into a country of mice in his dream after falling asleep.</p>