Kintaro
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Definition of Myth
A story of unknown authorship that people told long ago in an attempt to answer serious questions about how important things began and occurred; myths generally involve nature or the adventures of gods and heroes.
The ability to not only express the emotion of the artist but to grasp the emotions of the audience is a special skill that artists spend a life time searching for. Artists use mythology as a way of expressing feelings of emotion through a different perspective.
With the modern day beliefs of what mythology is or was seems to be is even more of a reason to recreate myths through the use of paintings. With the belief that a myth is nothing more then a fairy tale (modern day thought of what a myth is) it seems that artist find it easy to express their true feelings through what everyone else beliefs only happens in a fairy tale. This is why so many artists recreate myths through art, expressing to the world that real dreams dont only occur in fairy tales but do happen in real life.
I have chosen the painting called Kintaro which who is known as “The Golden Boy” throughout Japans history. Painted by Howard David Johnson; a contemporary artist who has a vast background in natural sciences and history. The Japanese myth of the Golden Boy, Kintaro took place during the “Heian” period (10th century).
The mother of Kintaro (a mountain women) was the daughter of a very wealthy man named “Shiman-choja”she is said to have been a very beautiful women with great strength. The father was a great Red Dragon also known as the “Thunder God” god of thunder, fertility, and agriculture the son of Izanagi. It is said that upon the birth of Kintaro his mother who was also believed to be a sorceress took Kintaro and fled their hometown of Jizodo to escape Kintaros jealous uncle who wanted to kill him. Kintaro grew up in the forests of Mount Kintoki and Mount Ashigara where he became friends with all the wild animals. Using the mountains as a playground Kintaro trained himself very well and in turn became incredibly strong, so strong that he was known for playing with the strongest bears of Mount Kintoki throwing them around. Like his mother Kintaro had great strength but also had a high spirit and charm about him that attracted all the wild animals. Kintaro was never without his Hatchet symbolizing that of the thunder god and was quite often seen riding his bear. As Kintaro grew to be a handsome man with a great reputation for his kindness and charm throughout the local villages Kintaro changed his name to Kintoki Sakata. Kintaro was approached by a chief “Samurai”named Yorimitsu Minamoto who happened to be returning with his retainers (troops) from the eastern countries and decided to rest up in the town of Jizodo finding Kintoki (Kintaro). Yorimitsu thought it must have been what the Gods wanted by