Antique Japanese choba tansu (merchant's chest) made of keyaki (elm) wood burl with heavy iron hardware. The upper most portion of the chest has a large full width drawer above a compartment with sliding panels. The middle of the tansu has a horizontal row of three small drawers. The bottom portion of the tansu has a series of three drawers stacked in a vertical row and held in place with a locking bar...

A Japanese antique merchant (Choba) tansu made of thick quartered sawn keyaki wood with keyaki burl wood doors. The wonderful hardware is hand made iron. The casing is crytomeria. The tansu's top section has three top drawers. The mid section has sliding doors with an interior shelf and adjacent two drawers. The lower section has 4 small drawers and below them 3 more smaller drawers...

A rare antique Japanese Kusuri Tansu (herbal medicine pharmacist chest) made of Kirinoki (Paulownia) and Suginoki (Cryptomeria) woods. All original finish and hand made iron fittings. Includes swivel side carrying handles which when flipped up allowed a wood or bamboo pole to slide through allowing two attendants to carry the chest about. Sliding doors allowed access to a storage area where herbal books, customer notes and prescriptions were stored...

A rare edo period Japanese choba (merchants) tansu from the Niigata perfection in Japan. Made of solid keyaki hardwood (including the back). Finely detailed hand forged iron of a flying crane and longevity turtle seen amongst the pine and bamboo. The lower two drawers depict a lock and drum. Stunning original finish with warm tones. 8 drawers in total each of there own size...

An antique Japanese Choba Tansu (merchant chest) made of Kiri (Paulownia) and Sugi (Cryptomeria) woods. All hand forged iron hardware including the Kakute handles. It has a configuration of 9 drawers, a pair of Biraki-Do (hinged doors) hiding a center shelf and a thief's door behind which lies two more small drawers. Two side lift-up handles through which a bamboo pole would go allowing two persons to carry this tansu from place to place...

An antique Japanese Kimono Tansu made of 100% quartered sawn Keyaki (Zelkova) hardwood and Suginoki interior (Cryptomeria) woods. All original Urushi lacquer and hand forged iron hardware including the Warabite handles. 5 large drawers with a hinged security door that hides 2 small drawers where valuable were kept hidden...

A rare antique Japanese Sakata Funa Tansu (captain's chest originating from Sakata, Japan) made of Keyaki (Zelkova) and Kirinoki (Paulownia) woods. The sides and top of the body used solid unspliced thick wood boards. All original Urushi lacquer finish and heavy gauge hand forged iron hardware. Constructed using straight dovetail Japanese joinery and hardened wood nails...

A rare antique Japanese Hangai Tansu (captain's business transaction chest) made of Keyaki Tamamoku (Zelkova Burl) and Kirinoki (Paulownia) woods. All original translucent Urushi lacquer with hand made bronze hardware. Security door with two side trick latches and a top lock and key that hides 6 interior drawers of varying sizes. The trick latches unlock by lifting the knob up and to the right for the left latch and up and to the left for the right latch...

A rare antique Ryobiraki Choba Tansu (merchant chest with hinged doors) made of Hinoki (Cypress) and Kirinoki (Paulownia) woods. All original thick gauged hand forged iron hardware. Shackle lock with working key secures the removable hinged doors that open to a pair of sliding doors and four drawers. A secret button unlatches the left hinged door to open...

An antique Japanese Choba Tansu (merchant chest) made of Keyaki (Zelkova) and Kiri (Paulownia) woods. All original hand forged iron hardware including the stylized Kakute handles. Two pairs of sliding doors were used to store merchant records and books. 6 drawers were used for keeping business accessories and valuables. Main drawer lock plate features an incised Turnip with leaves. Constructed using dovetail joinery and side support slats. Iron bands in the back were used to add strength t...

An antique Japanese Kansai Mizuya Tansu (kitchen chest) made of Keyaki (Zelkova) and Ninoki (Cypress woods. All original hand forged iron hardware including the Hirute handles. In 2 sections, the upper portion has three sets of sliding doors with storage space behind each and 3 small drawers to the right with 5 side by side drawers along the lower part. The bottom section has 2 sliding doors with spacious storage behind and a set of 4 drawers vertically aligned and 4 drawers along the bottom ...

Antique Japanese 2-section mizuya tansu (kitchen chest) from the Mikuni area. Made with hinoki (Japanese cypress) wood framing and beautifully grained keyaki (zelkova elm) wood panels on the drawers and sliders. The frame is lacquered a rich reddish-orange while the slider frames are lacquered black. The top section has an unusual, narrow full width compartment on the very top with two sliders. Below this is a large compartment also with two sliders beside a small compartment on the right op...

Beautiful Japanese kusuri medical tansu made of kiri wood (paulownia) and sugi side frames (Japanese cypress or cryptomeria). With warm original finish and hand forged hardware. Lacquer dark reddish, brown and mahogany tones that shows well in lighter and dark rooms. Total of 102 individual drawers.

Edo Period late 18th early 19th Century

39" High x 34" Wide x 9" Deep

An antique Japanese Kusuri Tansu (medicine or herbal chest) made of Kiri (Paulownia) and Sugi (Cryptomeria) woods. All original bronze hardware including the Hirute style handles and hand forged iron corners.. Organized into 3 distinct sections. The upper section contains 56 small drawers, the center section has 40 medium sized drawers and the bottom section has 4 large drawers for a total of 100 drawers.

Age: Edo Period (1800-1850)

Dimensions: 35 1/4" Wide by 35" High by 7 3/4"...

Exceptional antique Japanese large kannon biraki tansu (chest with hinged doors). Two stacking sections made all of kiri (paulownia) wood. This chest has unusually bold hardware made of iron with traces of red lacquer. Each of the two large doors on the upper portion is fitted with a large iron kiri mon (specifically Gosan-no-kiri-mon) During the Edo Period, this crest became a well established mon of the Japanese government where previously it was used only by the imperial family. The top s...

Antique Japanese mizuya tansu (kitchen chest) in two sections: top section has two large compartments covered by sliding panels with beautiful keyaki (elm) wood burl framed in chestnut; the bottom compartment has a horizontal row of four drawers about waist height below which is another large compartment covered by sliding panels of split bamboo, sugi, and keyaki; along the very bottom is another horizontal row of four drawers; the right hand side of the bottom section has a compartment ope...

Rare and unusual Antique Japanese Keyaki (elm) burl chose tansu. The pair of sliding doors has elegantly hand carved paneling with multiple storage shelving within. Bold pierced iron hardware decorating each drawer corner with kakute (square) handles and locks. Stunning original deep red finish complimenting the natural burl woodgrain. Excellent hardware and unusual design. Edo Period (circa 1840's). Size: 36" H x 35" L x 15"D

An antique Japanese large Kyoto Mizuya Tansu (kitchen chest) in 2 sections that was made of Hinoki (Cypress), Kakinoki (Persimmon) and Suginoki (Cryptomeria) woods. The center drawers have a very unique design made by the decorative Persimmon accents making each one look like a gift box. All sliding doors have Persimmon runners used to smooth out the slide and help prevent wear at the bottom.

Japanese joinery is evident throughout the piece making use of the mortise and tenon technique. ...