Following Rabbit Tracks into the Twilight Realm

This ceramic rabbit, with its plump form and short, braced front legs, is a hand warmer (hibachi) cherished by Izumi Kyoka, a writer who depicted worlds of romance and fantasy.

The Mita Media Center at Keio University houses items related to Kyoka donated by his bereaved family. At the "Kyoka's Study" exhibition held at Maruzen Marunouchi Main Store in 2016, furnishings such as writing desks, folding screens, and small chests, as well as stationery, original manuscripts, and kimonos were displayed, drawing enthusiastic fans day after day. Standing out within the Kyoka Collection is a group of over 100 rabbits. Born in the Year of the Rooster, Kyoka collected and adored rabbit objects of various materials—wood, papier-mâché, ceramic, and cast metal—ranging from tiny fingertip-sized pieces to large ones like the hand warmer, as amulets of his opposite zodiac sign.

Izumi Kyoka is an author with deep ties to Mita; he contributed to the early issues of "Mita Bungaku" and gave a lecture at the Great Hall in Mita in 1923. Behind the donation of his personal effects to Keio University lies a deep friendship between Kyoka and the writers of the Mita school—Takitaro Minakami and Mantaro Kubota. In particular, Takitaro Minakami was so enamored with Kyoka that when he went abroad for a long period, he asked his ally Kubota to check all of Kyoka's works published during his absence, and even took his pen name from a character in one of Kyoka's works.

The Keio Museum Commons New Year Exhibition 2023, "A Vacant Lot Where Rabbits Hide" (January 10 – February 9), introduces the "Ku-ku-ku-kai" (999 Society), for which Takitaro Minakami served as the first organizer, alongside Kyoka's rabbit collection. The Ku-ku-ku-kai was a monthly meeting where Takitaro Minakami, Mantaro Kubota, Settai Komura, Saburosuke Okada, Ton Satomi, and others gathered around Kyoka. Through materials from the Mita Bungaku Library and the Juku collection, the exhibition depicts the interactions of the people surrounding Kyoka.

By the way, it is not only Kyoka's rabbits that hide in "A Vacant Lot Where Rabbits Hide." Rabbits emerging from diverse specialized fields—such as bronze mirrors from the Tang Dynasty, Latin Books of Hours, and stage sets for avant-garde dance—gather in the vacant lot. Please come and see for yourself the presence of Kyoka's hand warmer surrounded by its various companions.

(Yu Homma, Senior Lecturer, Keio Museum Commons)