Kotouta Story
Muromachi period(16th Century)

　This is a picture scroll of a Japanese fairy tale whose main character is a sparrow, “Kotouta”.
　The story begins when Kotouta and his wife are out looking for food and their child is eaten by a snake. Various birds come to the grieving couple to recite their songs of condolences. The song of the cock, Utanosuke: “Please do not grieve so much over parting with the child. We all know this world is short-lived.” The song they recite in return: “We knew this world is short-lived but parting with the child is still so hard.”
　After a while, Kotouta and his wife visited the owl, Saint Amidabutsu and became priests. They traveled to temples in many areas throughout the country while praying for the child. This is Kotouta going to Kiyomizu Temple. Kotouta is wearing a robe dyed black and carrying prayer beads. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom. The Otowa Falls are drawn on the other side of a mist. They go on a pilgrimage to Koyasan, Kumano, Shikoku, Kyushu, Kamakura and other places and finally seclude themselves in the middle of a forest reciting prayers to Buddha. They died a peaceful death.
　The cover is a brocade, the inside cover is gold foil and the back side of the scroll is scattered with silver leaf. The pictures are simple and meaningful, the birds are charmingly drawn. In this way, this beautiful picture scroll was made for a court noble and the princess of a samurai family. This scroll teaches the princesses the fate of the world and creating peace of mind by having faith in Buddha at a time when it was extremely hard to part with children due to war and disease.