Finely Painted Six-Panel Crane Screen, in various poses with leaves and flowers on a charcoal silver background. A highly styled creation of the Taisho Period. Taisho screens are very much sort after today for their unique beauty and the way that they complement a contemporary setting. Each Panel: 30h x 13w inches, 76h x 33w cm; total Dimensions: 30h x 80w inches, 76h x 203 cm.

A free-form watercolor on silk image of a dancer by Nishimura Goun inside a Kurogaki (black persimmon) frame with patterned brocade border. Who could not fall in love with this unusual expression of early twentieth century Japanese Art. She speaks of an era when a new freedom was growing in Japan, the growth of Democracy and rise of women’s rights. She dances free of care and self-consciousness, a blue ribbon tying her hair...

A fascinating portrait of the noted ukiyoe artist, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi. The work was painted by his disciple, Yamanaka Kodo (1869-1945) in 1934 and was originally part of the collection of Kobori Sakae, who collected various old books and donated his collection to the Waseda University. Above the portait are two poems done by two noted poets...

A six panel screen with mineral colors, and gold leaf clouds meandering though out scenes depicting a view from the Tale of Genji. The chapter that would be closely associated to the screen is Chapter 19, Usugumo, translated as Wisp of Clouds. The scene is showing Prince Genji wearing a white informal court robe, lined with red and is selecting robes for the visit of Lady Akashi.

Age: Late 18th to Early 19th century, Edo Period

Size: Length 109" Height 47.5"

A large sized hanging scroll of a landscape in the literati style by Okuhara Seikou (1837-1913). Seikou was one of the few female artists who specialized in the literati tradition (known as Bunjinga or sometimes associated with Nanga). An inscription can be found on the top left of the painting where a short Chinese poem is describing how the guests are approaching through the mists found among the hills of the landscape...

Beautiful Japanese scroll painting depicting farm women with large baskets on their backs making their way up a steep mountain path, the snowy slopes of Mt. Fuji rise out of the trees in the distance, a beautiful rural scene, painting in light mineral colors and ink on silk, after Hokusai, Meiji Period. Size of painting: 38" high x 16 3/8" wide Total size of scroll: 71" high x 21 1/4" wide (23 1/2" wide including ends)

A worker makes his way through the autumn tinged hills, home just a few steps away in this brilliant Nanga work by Hashimoto Kansetsu enclosed in the original signed wooden box which is in turn enclosed in a red lacquered wooden box (Nijubako). Light color on silk mounted in a superb frame of blue silk with patterned with dragon dials and featuring large ivory rollers. The scroll measures 22 x 85-1/2 inches (58 x 217 cm) and is in excellent condition...

Golden eyes gaze at the full moon rising over dried autumn grass and wilted flowers on this fine scroll signed Shuso (Hotta Shuso). Pigment and light color on silk in a patterned silk mounting with bone rollers. The scroll measures 19 x 78 inches (47.5 x 192.5 cm) and is in overall fine condition.
Hotta Shuso (1894-1954) was born in Nagano prefecture and studied under Ikegami Shuho, settling in Tokyo. One of his best students, Shuso later became leader of Shuho's Denshindo atelier...

A massive celebratory image of Tai (sea bream) by important 20th century artist Imai Keiju in superb mounting enclosed in a wooden box signed Gorei. These fish have attitude! Sea Bream are an auspicious image in Japan due to their name (Tai) which is a homonym with medetai (celebration). The pigment on silk image is framed in patterned brocades and features bone rollers. The scroll is 51-1/2 x 78 inches (130 x 199 cm)...

Green or Blue, which will win this contest? Two shishi lions vie for our attention on this absolutely fabulous pair of 19th century screens. The images are performed with pigment on applied silver, not an easy medium from the start. One creature pounces, mouth open, teeth barred while the other crouches, mouth shut, ready to leap. Peony, a flower typically associated with the creatures, grows about them. Each screen is 68 x 137 inches (173 x 348 cm)...

Two panel Japanese folding screen with image of two deers set on a grassy meadow-like surrounding with a waxing gibbous moon set on the left panel screen. The simple watercolor appearance, minimalist lines, and motif like appearance of the images are the signature elements seen in most Rinpa School. Age: Edo Period (18th-19th century). Size: Height: 67.5" Width: 68"

The painting depicted court musicians playing divine music called Bugaku. Bugaku is a Japanese court music accompanied by dancing. Here one of the players plays shen (a bamboo instrument first produced in China in 7th century) and the other one sounds a massive drum with mitsudomoe crest (three comma-shaped figures in a circle). Bugaku carries a ritualistic implication and is usually played at the start before dance performance begins. Bugaku purifies the stage. Painted with ink and pigments...

Children gathering Sansai mountain vegetables, a stunning Taisho period silk painting by Nishikubo Kunko. Three young girls wear indigo dyed country kimono, their forearms and shins protected from the grass and brush and heads covered in white scarves, straw sandals on their feet. They carry voluminous bamboo baskets as they move along the reed covered water’s edge, perhaps in search of fuki (Butterbur). The scene is performed with heavy pigment on silk, in completely original condition...

A samurai and his retainer helping his load to dress in armor. Painted with ink and pigments on silk...

The painting depicted a samurai met an old man at night. In Japan there are many legendary tales of ogre extermination where samurai fights with ogre to protect people and their town. Some folklore says that the ogre turns into human and attacks people go around. Here, the samurai was prepared for the fight by the torii, which is a traditional Japanese gate commonly found at the entrance of or within a Shinto shrine, where it symbolically marks the transition from the profane to the sacred. Whil...

Unique Zen ink wash painting depicts scroll and bamboo broom representing Kanzan and Jittoku. Kanzan and Jittoku were Zen eccentric monks thought to have lived at a monastery on Mt. Tendai in China during the Tang period (618-907). They had a thorough knowledge of Buddhist philosophy. Kanzan often depicted holding a scroll, presumably of his poetry, while Jittoku holding a broom, indicating his position as a scullion at a monastery. Their unconventional appearances have often been painted by Zen...

Antique Japanese beautiful pair of Kacho (bird and flower) 6-panel screen paintings, painted with scenes of pairs of different birds by a stream; depicted are herons, pheasants, mandarin ducks, and others; growing near river are cherry trees, peonies and pines; painted in mineral colors and gofun on paper with gold leaf mist, early 19th century (Edo Period)

Provenance: from the collection of the Honolulu Museum of Art.

Early 19th Century

Size: Each...

Jurojin getting an earful; a humorous image by Suzuki Shonen showing the elderly god having his ear cleaned by his companion, the long lived crane. It comes enclosed in a double wooden box annotated by Konishi Fukunen (1887-1959) and bears a label from the Daimaru Department Store. Fukunen was one of Shonens most famous pupils. The ink and light color on paper image is bordered in a superb brocade mounting with solid ivory rollers. It measures 64 x 149 cm (25 x 59 inches) and is in fine cond...