Charming original blond Ko (small) tansu with locking bar and safe (with Key). Many drawers of different sizes with great original black iron hirsute shaped drawer hardware. Wonderful unusual design for a ko tansu. Overall in great shape. Edo Age: 1840's (pre - Dates Meiji period). Dimension: 16 3/4" high X 24 1/2" wide X 16 1/4" deep

An Original Albumen Photograph of Yokohama by Felice Beato 1865 Edo Period 11 1/2 x 8 3/8 ins. (29.3 x 21.4 cms) This albumen photograph by the great photographer Felice Beato is catalogued in the Collection of Nagasaki University Library "Japanese Old Photographs of the Bakumatsu/Meiji Period" #777 with the following caption;  Taken by Beato. "Dear Mrs. Kiyota's house near Yokohama on the Kanazawa Road, August 21, 1865 "...

Original example of a Japanese antique isho tansu from the Matsumoto area. Made all of kiri (paulownia) wood with original patina (frame, top, sides, and drawers). Iron hardware includes money bag shaped lock plates specific to Matsumoto tansu, moko shaped drawer pulls and elaborately cut handle back plates and drawer corner bracing. The tansu has 5 large drawers and the lower right hand side has a safe box with 2 small interior drawers.

Late Edo to Early Meiji Period...

Abstract print by well-known Japanese print artist Masao Ohba (born 1928). He won first prize in 1998 at the 17th Biennale of Contemporary Ex Libris in Malbork, Poland. His work is colorful with interesting textures. This particular print almost appears to be an abstract take on the Japanese flag, with interesting shapes and flecking of red, yellow, and blue peeking through black sections. circa 1950s, signed and marked "87/150" Size: 7" height, 10.5" width

Interesting and unusual in shape, two contiguous cylinders of different diameters, the lacquer decoration with marbled shades is rare. Inlays, all around the edge of the box, of branches of vines whose flowers are in polished mother-of-pearl and hard stones in different shades of iridescence. The cover features two mother-of-pearl horses on top, and inside a snail and a flying ant. Origin: Japan. Epqoue: Meiji...

Original shin-hanga woodblock print titled "Sacred Grove" by artist Tōshi Yoshida (1911-1995). It is a nature scene showing a red temple with golden doors and roof, partially obscured by trees. The forest floor is mossy and only a small bit of the sky peeks through the treetops. The print is framed behind glass with a large wooden border. The photo shows reflection on the glass but the print is perfect. Size: (entire frame) 16" height, 12" width (print only) 9" height, 6.5" width

Original woodblock print by Clifton Karhu (1927 - 2007) titled “To†depicting a head of a tiger. The print is pencil-signed, titled, dated 71 and numbered 13/100 at the bottom of the circular image. Printed on very thin paper. Condition: fine impression and color, slightly creased. Dimension: 30.7 cm x 32 cm.

Everything about this sencha tea implement storage cabinet is top quality; a most unusual box made up almost entirely of worm wood featuring a removable door with an inner panel of antique Chinese origin, possibly an image of a tea salesman with his baskets of leaves. A bronze handle surmounts the lightweight box, with a set of four jade rings attached through a pair of folding fans serving as a handle for the door...

An absolute classic natural ash glazed sake bottle by the reclusive potter Osako Mikio enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Tokkuri. Most of the surface is covered in ash, tremulous tears of liquefied ash weeping over the charred clay. It is 14 cm tall and in excellent condition...

Clusters cling to the bottom of this heavily encrusted small bottle scorched black and off kilter which must have become lost in the embers by Osako Mikio enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Ko-tsubo. It is roughly 8 cm (3-1\4 inches) diameter, 9.5 cm (4 inches) tall and in excellent condition...

Osuga Yuichi (b. 1939)
Japanese Bellflower (Kikyo)
Date: ca. 1970s or later.
Size: Oban. 15.875 x 10.75 inches.
Publisher: Unsodo. Publisher's "Gei" watermark at lower left.
Carver: Monju. Printer: Sugimoto
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Upper left margin edge has vertical crease.

Rengetsu Otagaki (1791-1875) was Buddhist nun who is widely regarded to have been one of the greatest Japanese poets of the 19th century.
She was also a skilled potter and painter and expert calligrapher and adorned her ceramics with poems written in her unique calligraphic style.
The cup style and the age of the glaze is consistent with authentic Rengetsu work.

Size
Diameter: 5.8 cm
Height: 4.3 cm

Condition
The cup has a crack but it is not a probl...

Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) Antique Japanese Tea Cup with inscribed poem and signature

Rengetsu Otagaki (1791-1875) was a Buddhist nun who is widely regarded to have been one of the greatest Japanese poets of the 19th century.
She was also a skilled potter and painter and expert calligrapher and adorned her ceramics with poems written in her unique calligraphic style.
The cup style and the the glaze is consistent with authentic Rengetsu work.

Size
Width 8cm...

A vibrant bowl in the shape of an aubergine decorated with soaring cranes and clouds by Heian Isso enclosed in the original artist signed wooden box, the inside of which is decorated with a wispy poem by friend and compatriot Otagaki Rengetsu. The bowl is large at 26 x 29.5 x 7 cm (10 x 11-1/2 x 3 inches) and is in excellent condition. This is a very interesting piece, clearly made by Isso, but the box decorated by Rengetsu, showing the depth of their friendship and artist relationship...

The bowl is 5 inches (13 cm) diameter2-1/2 inches (6 cm) tall and in fine condition. Oku yama no, Hana no Shirayuki, Nagare-kite, Haru no sue kumu, Kawazura no Sato (From Deep in the mountains, fallen petals white as snow, Flow past the village, like the last vestige of Spring). Much has been written about the life and work of poet/artist Otagaki Rengetsu...

This rare and interesting ceramic work was done by one of the most renowned and loved waka poets of the 19th century, Ōtagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875). In fact, if you look closely at the attached images, you will see her finger imprints clearly preserved in the molded clay.

Born into a Samurai family but soon after adopted by the Ōtagaki family, from the age of seven to sixteen Rengetsu was a lady in waiting at Kameoka castle where she was trained in the arts and courtly graces...

A Tea Pot by Otagaki Rengetsu with a handle like bamboo root inscribed with a poem which reads: Ko no kimi wa
medetaki fushi wo
kasane tsutsu
sue no yo nagaki
tameshi nari keri.
This translates as:
Our young bamboo
piling up happy knots
year upon year—
its tips reaching high
a paragon to us.
It is roughly 10 cm (4 inches) diameter. And comes enclosed in a wooden box annotated by Koen of Jinkoin temple, where Rengetsu lived...

A dark forest rises in a field of white, as if still covered in frost or snow, over which is draped a poem brushed in the exquisite script of the poet-nun Otagaki Rengetsu, Itsu to naki, Tokiwa no sato ha, Hototogisu shinobu hatsune ni, Uzuki wo ya shiru?
With the first cry of the Cuckoo, in this village of Tokiwa
Will the people realize, Spring has arrived?
To the extreme left, the cuckoo flies off the page...