Creatures congregate among the fallen leaves and small grasses surrounding this incredible Kanshitsu (dry lacquer) box by Okada Yuji enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Yafu (Field Wind). A plethora of techniques have been used to create this box. First the dry lacquer technique means perhaps a year in creating the egg-like shape, due to drying time of the many layers. It is covered in polished black lacquer, with leaves of gold maki-e riven with kirigane cut gold chips...

I have seen a lot of work over the last quarter century by Kawai Kanjiro, and among it all, this is an absolute stunner. 'Museum quality' as a quote gets thrown around a lot, but I do not use it lightly. The form, the clarity of the white, the crispness of the lines of color and his obvious deft touch. It ranks among the top ten percent I have seen by this important artist without a doubt...

Museum Quality Early 18th Century Edo Period (circa 1700) Gilded Japanese Sculpture of Amida Nyorai Buddha. Seated cross-legged in the lotus posture, hands joined in the mudra of contemplation, eyes all but closed in meditation, we are gazing upon the sculptor's vision of Amida enthroned in paradise. The elaborately carved lotus upon which he sits is itself a symbol of the attributes of the Amida Buddha: gentleness, openness, and purity...

Late Edo Period Musha Ningyo of Ushiwaka- maru, a brave boy who grew up to be the great warrior Minamoto Yoshitsune. This is a Ningyo of the finest quality. He has a wonderfully carved face and hands and sports a fantastic hair style and has a beautiful costume of sumptuous brocades. 8h x 6.75w inches, 20.5 x 17 cm.

Musha Ningyo of Shoki the Demon Queller, mid-19th Century late Edo early Meiji Period. An unusually large and early version holding a captured Oni (demon). This is a rare find for this subject. He is powerful and majestic. His face carved of wood with crystal eyes and massive beard and hair made of silk is a masterwork. He wears a Chinese cap and a robe with gorgeous, sumptuous brocades. According to Japanese folklore, the spirit of Shōki is able to scare away demons...

Meiji Period (circa 1880) Japanese Musha Ningyô (Boys Day Doll) depicting the Legendary Toyotomi Hideyoshi, seated in court position wearing dramatic brocades and gold lacquered armor, a gembun fan in his right hand and wearing a classic winged cap. His face is finely carved with a regal expression. This Ningyô is Meiji craftsmanship at its best. 14.5 inches, 37 cm. From a widely renowned and published collection that has been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum and Japan Society.

Muto Katei (b. 1910)
Engakuji Temple in Kamakura
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. Bears the Watanabe 6mm seal, indicating an early edition.
Date: 1954
Size: Oban: Approximately 15.5 x 10.5 inches.
Condition: Pristine. Never displayed. Removed from original folder for archival storage.
Muto Katei studied printmaking under Kawase Hasui.
The unusual color palette works beautifully in this image.

A katchushi (or armorer's) tsuba, probably Myochin, with pierced decoration of ship's rudders (the significance being a comparison of rudders steering a ship to values guiding a Samurai's life choices.) The strong, homogenous, dense iron plate with only light tekkotsu and smooth to the touch. Dark patina. Momoyama to early Edo. Good condition: Lamination folds with openings evident on the surface of one side. Ex Skip Holbrook collection. 3 3/32" x 3 1/16" x 1/8" (7.8 cm x 7.7 cm x .32 cm)

A bowl or cup of unusual Klapmuts form with an angled everted rim decorated in under-glaze blue with Auntumn grasses, akikusa. Shards of identical cups have been excavated from the Okawachi kiln site and dated to the late Edo period and the first half of the Nineteenth century. The bowl measures 9.8cm in diameter and stands 6.8cm high and the foot-ring measures 3.4cm in diameter. It is in good condition with no cracks, chips or restoration...

Nabeshima blue and white plate with plum blossoms and cloud pattern in a charming depiction. Shippo design on back with comb line foot. Perfect condition.

2 1/2" H x 8" Diameter
Edo Period, early 1800s

A good Nabeshima dish from the Nabeshima clan’s Okawachi kiln of oval boat shaped form, perhaps inspired by the boat shaped ingots, sychee or yuanbao, and decorated with an auspicious pattern of a pair of Goldfish swimming amongst water weeds. This particular pattern and shape belongs to a group of wares that were approved by the Shogun Ieharu in 1774 and were produced throughout the late Edo period for the consumption of the Shogunate. (See Nabeshima Porcelain for the Shogunate)...

Japanese Nabeshima ware porcelain dish decorated with a bird on a branch looking over a pond of omodaka (water plantian). The dish stands on a high, deeply recessed foot with outer "comb" cobalt blue design around its edges.

Dimensions: 8" diameter

Date: 19th Century

Nabeshima hard porcelain dish. Okawachi kilns. Decoration in underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze enamels. Although the model already exists at the beginning of the 18th century, we do not believe that the dish presented here is authentic. The enamels are perfect, one can distinguish with a magnifying glass discreet wear of use and the enamels show age cracks, but the cobalt blue on the reverse is too pale. It is not a modern copy, as it has been in the Sakura collection for about forty years...

A nagazara of conventional rectangular form with compressed indented corners decorated in underglaze blue with a Chinese style landscape featuring a small viewing pavilion on a bridge. The reverse decorated with a stylised peony and a “classic” comb border to the footring, This dish was produced at the Nabeshima fief’s official kiln at Okawachi in Arita for the Shogun in the late Edo period c.1820-60. The dish measures 20.8cm long and is 11cm wide...

. A Nabeshima style dish hand painted with an underglaze blue “karahana” pattern. The reverse decorated with Shippo-tsunagi, six coins bound with trailing ribbons to the reverse and a comb pattern to the foot. The dish measures 18.5cm in diameter (six suns) and stands 4.5cm high...

Not to save the best for last, but this piece by Nagae Shigekazu is simply breathtaking. The pattern of light and dark squares which drives direct lines across the distended quadrilateral form hails images of the Ichimatsu-moyo pattern at the Katsura Rikyu imperial palace. The lyrical curves of the vessel itself are in sharp contrast to the extreme precision of the patterns, creating a unique dialog between viewer and viewed. It comes enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Chokutai...

An exquisite white shape by Nagae Shigekazu enclosed in the original signed wooden box dating circa 1996. Inscribed light patterns like waving blades of grass are almost indiscernible on the surface, incredibly detailed and crisp when viewed close-up, a green splash of color like a Christmas ribbon circling the form in both directions. It measures 14 inches (35 cm) tall, 5 inches (13 cm) square at base, mouth 7-1/2 x 2 inches (18.5 x 5 cm), and is in perfect condition. Included is the origin...