Water tumbles from steep dark hills into a roiling sea of clouds on this painting by Japanese artist Fukuda Kodojin (1865-1944) enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The erratic brushwork and radical form of this scroll typify work by the unusual self taught Nanga artist. Three tiny huts cluster on the edge of dark forest, a few paddies scratched from the rugged earth, their seeming insignificance a testament to the artists great love of nature...

Part of a triptych with depiction of the Five Great Myoo. At the top is Kongo Yasha Myoo, standing on two lotus bases, at the bottom Gozanse Myoo, being held by an acolyte. Black ink and color on silk, background gold. Beautiful painting, expensively painted.
Painted area: 39 x 15 ¼ inches; frame: 47 ¼ x 21 in.
Good condition, framed ( rollers cut off, old mounting behind mat).

Framed painting of Shoki standing with a sword in his hand. On his head a large straw hat. Inscription on the upper left side with three red seals. Signature and seal on the lower right side: Kano …Fujiwara Masuyoshi hitsu. Ink on silk. Kano style. Rollers cut of and framed with original mounting.
Painted area: 34 1/8 x 11 ¼. Frame: 54 ¾ x 17 ¼ inches.
Silk darkened with age, stained, undulating, one minor crack, otherwise good condition.

Original hanging scroll of a tiger and a dragon, two of the regal powers. Black ink on silk. On the lower right signature with two seals. The upper reading Gan…. Painter from the Kishi family.
Mat and frame

Painted area: 37 1/8 x 13 1/8.
Frame: 19 ¼ x 48 ¾ inches.

Some creases, one tiny hole, generally in good condition.

A male peacock struts proudly before a gorgeous plume of color on this mid 20th century hand painted screen signed and stamped Yushin. The colors are slightly muted, in a typical Japanese way, the background awash in mottled silver-gray, presenting the brilliant greens and blues of the birds fabulous attraction. It is bordered in a wooden frame covered in Negoro lacquer, unusual green over red, matching the painting perfectly...

A beautifully written tea room scroll by 19th century calligraphist and seer/soothsayer Yokoyama Marumitsu (1780-1854) bordered in pale green brocade and featuring bone rollers. The calligraphy is very expressive, dark lines varying dramatically in width as they curl down the wide sheet. The signature line reads A 72 year old man Kiosanjin Marumitsu making the scroll date to 1851 by Japanese age count(Kiosanjin was one of his many literary names)...

A young woman in rare western dress gazes across this early to mid 20th century Bijinga scroll signed Ikko (Furutani Fujio, b. 1891) enclosed in a period wooden box. Her bright western dress and short hair must have made quite an impression in conservative Japan. The silk painting is bordered in green brocade embellished with flowering vines, extended with beige and features bone rollers. The scroll measures 21-1/2 x 52-1/2 inches (54.5 x 133 cm), and is in fine condition...

Very small scroll painting for in the back of a house shrine. Sumie. Daruma standing on a reed stalk crossing the river Yangtse. In the upper part a commentary or a poem. Black ink on silk. Red seal to the left...

An absolutely brilliant winter landscape by Edo period artist Sumie Buzen (1734-1806) dominated by impossible crags and radical trees, a single pagoda the only evidence of man in the artists mad world. Ice glimmers white on the limbs of scattered brush across the barren winter scene of tumbling cliffs, the white roofs of the tower cupped in a hand like jumble of stone. However all serves as backstage props for the twisted tree clinging precariously to the edge of the precipice at bottom right...

A black-tailed white crane braves tempestuous seas before the massive orb of a blood red rising sun in this sensational late Edo period Kano style scroll. From the right a sinewy tree loaded with exaggerated fruits hangs precariously from the green face of a sheer cliff, its wild branches running helter-skelter through the dark sphere. Mist retreats beyond the horizon, regrouping for another night...

An extraordinary scene unravels in this raucous tumbling Literati scroll by Kyotos Shirakura Niho (b. 1896) enclosed in the original signed wooden box. An inscription in the box lid names the scene The Hermitage West of Kamo (River) called Taka-Ike-Kyo. A solitary man looks up from his reading toward open ground, his thatched hovel lost in a jumble of bamboo flanking the steep falls rushing white through the foliage...

A blossoming cherry occupied by two Birds of paradise spreads its arms over blue water flowing across the gold ground of this fine two panel screen by Kano Takanobu (d. 1794). The scene is depicted with mineral pigment on paper and gold foil. The artist has chosen a softer than traditional approach to the tree bark, almost boneless, all written with washes of dark color like that of the Rimpa school. The blossoms themselves are painted in slight moriage gofun, each heart shaped petal unique...

A collection of huts glow softly huddled in the protection of towering rocks in this lovely winter landscape by Akamatsu Unrei (1893-1958) enclosed in the original signed wooden box dated 1928, which itself is in turn enclosed in a protective red lacquered wooden box (nijubako). A true master of the genre, Unrei was born in Osaka, and apprenticed under Koyama and later the famous Nanga-ka Himejima Chikugai...

A noborigama (multiple chamber climbing kiln) ascends the right side of this wildly brushed Autumnal Nihonga screen signed Takuji, which dates from the late 1920s or 1930s...

A framed calligraphy fan painting by important Edo period poet Kawano Tetsuto (1825-1867), published in the book Shijin Kano Tetsuto (1932). The ancient paper fan is mounted in a field of gold flake bordered with black lacquered wood, the frame measuring 11-1/2 by 23-1/2 inches (29 x 59.5 cm). There is one spot of damage to the flecked gold mounting in the lower right (see photos). Tetsuto was an influential poet and scholar of the late Edo period, trained in the arts under Yoshida Kakusen an...

A gentleman standing in courtly robes takes advantage of a warm spring night to get in some reading. Standing on the balcony he puts light to a hanging lantern, illuminating cherry blossoms wrapped in evenings misty veil beyond the rail. This is an excellent example of Meiji period Yamato-e signed Saiho which has been fully re-mounted in quality patterned brocade, and retaining the original bone rollers. The watercolor and pigment on silk scroll measures 18-1/4 by 76-1/2 inches (51.5 x 194 cm...

The character Take (bamboo) is struck with six brisk strokes of dark ink on this Chagake tea scroll signed Mitsuhiro (Karasuma Mitsuhiro, 1578-1638) and dated 1631. The calligraphy is exquisite. Mitsuhiro was born the son of Karasuma Mitsunobu (1543-1606) and, like his auspicious father, was a well known poet and songwriter accomplished in calligraphy. The paper is, as might be expected, repaired in several places and has marks and yellowing consistent with age, however is still supple and ea...

A surreal ink on cloth landscape by Kyoto artist Nakanishi Koseki (1807-1884) bordered in rich blue patterned silk and featuring radical flaring rosewood rollers. Soft ink tones and heavy washes of gray clash with the brisk strokes and jagged lines of the painting, creating a vivacious scene. The stamps on this match those on the next listing, a second scroll by Koseki. This scroll measures 19-3/4 by 76 inches (50.5 x 194 cm). There is one hard crease crossing the scroll above the large lowe...