Starting with the famous verse by Chinese Scholar YoYu (AD 53-18) ”The written character is a picture of the heart” (Sho kokoro Ga nari) here are written 42 rules of calligraphy spread over 10 narrow panels by the famous calligraphist Ide Gakei dated 1677. The verses appear to have been written in one sitting, the style going from crisp perfect Kaisho characters through Gyosho stylized characters and into the elegantly running Grass script (Sosho)...

Antique Japanese scrol painting of a landscape with boat. The water is very still and the moon is high over a mountain in the distance. A flock of geese swoops down from the sky on the right. On the far left, an outcropping of rocks partially obscures some rural houses. A willow tree drapes itself outward over the water. With signed tomobako. Signed Tan'yu and with the seal of his given name Moninobu. Certified by Eitoku, his grandfather...

Antique Japanese Buddhist Womb of the World Mandala Scroll Painting. Dated early 18th century with temple in Kyoto. Central figure of Buddha immediately surrounded by eight immortal attendants. Rows of attendants repeating on surface of painting. Painted in mineral colors and gold ink on silk. Mounted as a scroll with a light blue silk border and copper ends.

Dimensions: 58 ½” x 84” overall, 50” x 54” painting only

A set of early wood panels, once doors on a votive shrine, painted with guardian shishi lions (Also called Fu-dogs) in polychrome colors, much worn with time. The doors are of clear grained hinoki (Japanese cypress) and have shrunk horizontally over the centuries, evidenced by the ari (wooden support) which is inset into them. On back one can see clearly the silhouette of the original metal-work...

Antique 2-panels screen painting from the interior of a wealthy home in Momoyama Period Japan. Each of these two rectangular shaped panels is painted with a fan shaped reserve. The fan on the left panel is painted with a branch of blossoming white flowers, possibly dogwood and is shadowed by another blue and gold fan shaped reserve. The fan on the right panel is painted in ink with a bird on a branch and shadowed with a green and gold fan...

Antique Japanese Scroll of Two Quails amidst chrysanthemum flowers, painted with a delicate painterly touch. Signed and sealed by Tosa Mitsuoki (光起) (1617-1691). In 1654, Mitsuoki won back the position of edokoro-azukari for the family, which enabled him to revive the school.Mitsuoki rejuvenated the traditional Tosa style by introducing elements from Chinese painting...

A fine example of Edo period Kano painting, this generously proportioned hanging scroll illustrates a late autumn scene from the Japanese countryside over 300 years ago. The poem on the scroll reads:

Solitary, with the color, of nothingness
A close to autumn, on a ring of mountaintops

The painter, Minenobu Kano (1662 - 1708), was greatly admired by the Ienobu Tokugawa shogunate who eventually promoted him to the position of inner-court artist...

Antique Japanese scroll painting of Buddha Amitābha also known simply as Amida Buddha and two Bodhisattva attendants: Sanzon Bosatsu (with both hands holding a lotus blossom) and Seishi Raigo Bosatsu (with hands in gassho adoration mudra). The central figure, Amida Nyorai stands with each foot on a lotus blossom, floating on swirling clouds as he descents. His hands are in vitarka mudra, also known as Raikō gesture of welcoming souls to Paradise (Jōdō or Sukhavati in Sanskrit)...

Third son of the director of the Kano School of painting, Yasunobu was appointed head of the Kyoto branch at a young age after his father’s death. Meanwhile, his two older brothers went to Edo to take up prestigious positions painting for the Tokugawa Shogunate. In 1662 Yasunobu gained the honorific title of “Hogen,” and near the end of his life in his 70s he wrote a treatise on the art of painting that would server as a central doctrine for later generations of painters...

Pair of six leaves screens with decoration of horse-races on golden relief paper. The decoration offers a multitude of characters combining all the social classes gathering in the sanctuary of Kamo to Kyoto, to attend the taking place horse-race the fifth day of the fifth month : the Kamo Kurabe-Uma (加茂競馬).

This race count twenty riders in costume of Heian period split in two teams...

Namiamidabutsu sho (Praise to the name of Amiddha Buddha) is scrawled in faint verse down the upper right, while on the left is a warning, kono tori, minasama goyojin goyojin (all those on this path, be wary be wary…) The two scripts are separated by a grave marker at the base of which lies a skull and scattered bones among the unkempt dried grasses. A very unusual seal in the shape of a Buddhist ewer hugs the right edge. Early to mid Edo period in the style of Hakuin Eikaku (1686-1768)...

Antique Japanese scroll painting depicting a dead man being whisked away in a flaming carriage bound for hell. He is escorted by three demons brandishing weapons and pulling the cart through clouds of smoke. A section of the poem translates as "whether old or young, rich or poor [...] on the fiery carriage..." Painted and signed by the artist Kawamura Jakushi (1638-1707) with a verse possibly written by Banjisei...

Also known as "The Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life,” here in this pre-Edo Buddhist painting we see Amida and his two assistant bodhisattvas, Seishi on the left (associated with wisdom and strength), and Kannon on the right (associated with compassion and mercy), descending from the Western Pure Land to welcome newly deceased believers into the realm of paradise...

Rare Japanese 6 panel-screen in ink, color pigments and gold leaf. On the second screen, on the last panel on the left, one can distinguish many Tartar warriors hunting as well as falconers on horseback. On the rightmost three panels, a lake and rice paddies, a variety of wild birds, all against a backdrop of mountains, waterfalls and trees in the style of the Kano school interspersed with clouds of gold and gold flecks. These Tartars (or Tatars) are identifiable by their dashing equestrian p...

Composed by one of the most well-regarded and important figures within the Kanō tradition of painting, here we see a whimsical rendition of tiger and cub prancing through the forest. With its beautiful and well-preserved silk brocade to highlight the scene, the overall composition radiates a feeling of lightness and playful curiosity.

Oldest son to Kanō Takanobu, Tanyu was appointed as the first designated painter to the Tokugawa Shogunate. An enthusiast for Chinese style painting...

The large characters in the center of this scroll "南無妙法蓮華経" are pronounced as "Namu Myōho Renge Kyō” in English — a phrase associated with Nichiren Buddhism that is often recited as a mantra, expressing devotion to the Lotus Sutra. This sutra is one of the main tenants of Nichiren and is thought by devotees to be the ultimate law and truth of the universe. Commissioned in 1690, this scroll commemorates the reconstruction of the main hall of Ryuhon-ji Temple, estab...

An antique Japanese two panel screen painting (byobu) of the battle between the two historical figures Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Benkei.
Minamoto no Yoshitsune (born Ushiwakamaru c.1159) was raised in a monastery near in Kyoto. His incredible skill as a warrior emerged when he was very young. In the scene depicted here, he famously defeats the great warrior-monk, Benkei (Saito Musashibo Benkei). The young Ushiwakamaru easily leaps over the larger warrior. According to legend, Benk...

The deity Shomen Kongo standing on a demon in front of a flaming halo. In front of him a rooster and a chicken and a monkey with a gohei. Ink and colors on paper. Painted area 25 x 11 inches. Several horizontal creases due to rolling, several small missing areas, all backed and partly retouched. New mounting in Chinese style. Overall stable condition.

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