Kosode-no-te

Overview

Kosode-no-te appears through two human hands projecting from the sleeves of a patterned garment. The robe hangs over the edge of a low furnishing and spreads across the foreground. Flowers and trailing stems cover its fabric. Above it stand books and a candle holder shaped as a crane on a tortoise, placing the apparition among ordinary indoor possessions.

The exact printed title 小袖の手 names the hands of the garment. There is no complete human wearer visible; the sleeves and hands make clothing itself the supernatural subject. This is an illustrated animated object rather than an independently attested zoological creature. The inspected composition establishes the garment, human limbs and domestic surroundings, while more elaborate stories of its owner or the circumstances of animation need separately verified narrative evidence.

Origins & earliest records

Toriyama Sekien, Konjaku Hyakki Shūi (first published 1781), volume 2; the named plate was directly inspected in the digitized institutional copy. This dates a selected representation, not an earliest oral belief.

Records & interpretation

Printed label 小袖の手 and creature composition directly checked in the enlarged primary scan. The cursive explanatory commentary has not been fully transcribed; detailed popular narratives are excluded unless supported separately.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

1. 01

   Konjaku Hyakki Shūi

   Toriyama Sekien · 1781

   Volume 2; IIIF canvas index 15 (zero-based); HyakkishuYiV2Tori_0016.jp2. Named illustration directly inspected.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

1. Institutional primary-book recordKonjaku Hyakki Shūi — Smithsonian Libraries digitized volume 2Research access: 2026-10-05
2. Primary illustrated plate / institutional digitizationKosode-no-te (小袖の手) — exact inspected primary plateResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

Kosode-no-te, named plate by Toriyama Sekien

Printed label 小袖の手 and the pictured composition directly inspected at enlarged resolution. Human hands emerge from the sleeves of a draped garment in Sekien’s Kosode-no-te illustration. The exact image URL comes from the returned IIIF manifest, not a guessed page ID.