A found object - narrowing it down - MINI workshop series

 For this mini workshop we had to find an object from a museum and find out about it's origins, delve into it's many mysteries and explain why we chose it. Eventually we will be illustrating aspects from this objects story so it had better be interesting. I saw a load a things in the museum that I liked such as Tiki masks, pickled jellyfish, traditional Katana;s and much more. Eventually I narrowed it down to two objects, above on the right is my first choice.

This is a ceremonial dagger from Ladakh, Kashmir, India, it's actual name is a 'Phurba'and it was supposedly used for rituals and things, COOL RIGHT?!
Anyhow these daggers vary in seize and design but there are some comon features that always make an appearance such as a three headed deity or a decorated skull, in this case it looks like both designs are present. The blade was meant to personify a powerful deity who would bind itself to great evil and destroy it. In addition to such the blade could also be used to influence the weather and was used widely during sandstorms

A lot of that information came with the blade in the showroom but I also found a website which talks about different types of Phurba and their origins. Here it is! CLICK ME

Above are a few examples of other Phurba's.
Some designs are really intricate.

My second choice is absolutely fantastic, I literally had no words for this item, I had to read the description to gain any ground.

A Japanese water spirit? Fantastic.

I love also that this was given as a gift to someone I mean i'm all up for joke presents but this is just amazing. It's also incredibly bizarre because of it's placement, It's not like it is on the end of a sword hilt, this would go in your hand regularly whenever it is raining and that makes it even weirder.

After doing some research I managed to find a newspaper article on this exact piece and I can confirm that it is indeed a water spirit named a Kappa. The Kappa is a spirit that had the body of a turtle or frog and a head of an ape, it also came with a turtle like beak for added shock factor. The beast had a Beatles style hair cut and a massive bald patch on the crown of it's head which was supposedly full of liquid that granted strength.

This thing was bloody terrifying but I learnt that if you are to stand a chance against this beast you must first bow as low as possible, the beast will be obliged to do the same thus tipping the liquid out of his crown which will weaken him.

Nice little fact that I read from the article which can be found here... CLICK ME