Antique Japanese silver over nickel gunbai 軍配 war fan. A type of signal baton and Japanese war fan. Once held by military leaders (such as daimyō) and priests in the past, it is used in the modern day by umpires in sumo wrestling.
Gunbai, from the Sino-Japanese roots meaning "military-apportioned [fan]", were a specialized form of fan used by samurai officers in Japan to communicate commands to their troops...

Large Japanese Meiji period Imari porcelain charger decorated in underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome enamels and gilt highlights with a central kirin surrounded by three ho-o birds in flight. The back is decorated entirely in blue and white with three expansive floral sprays emerging from a central figure that resembles Daruma. The center of the base holds a single spur. Circa 1900. 18 1/4" diameter x 2 5/8" high. Very good overall condition...

Hiroshige Ando (1797-1858)
A Pair of Poppies and Quails
Size: Approximately 8 x 3.75 inches.
Date: This posthumous edition is ca 1910.
Publisher: Matsumoto Print Works. No. 364 publisher's tag on back.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.
Note: We find these Matsumoto-published Hiroshige scenes to be particularly good, but we don't list all of them. Please contact us if you are interested in seeing others.

Hiroshige Ando
Rural View by Moonlight
Size: Approximately 6.625 x 5 inches.
Date: ca 1910.
Seal is read "Hiroshige".
Publisher: Matsumoto Print Works. No. 428 publisher's tag on back.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.
Note: We find these Matsumoto-published Hiroshige scenes to be particularly good, but we don't list all of them. Please contact us if you are interested in seeing others.

Hiroshige Ando (1797-1858)
Sudden Shower Over Shin Ohashi Bridge
Size: Approximately 5.625 x 3.5 inches.
Date: This posthumous edition is ca 1910.
Publisher: Matsumoto Print Works. No. 417 publisher's tag on back.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

Meiji (1868-1912) Japanese Bronze Okimono with Bamboo Forest Creatures Toad, Snake, and Slug

The okimono is 4.25 inches (11 cm) tall, and 11 inches (28 cm) long by 5.9 inches (15 cm) wide. It is 5.8 lb.

It is tarnished and has oxidation, rust, firing crack at the snake, firing hole at the toad, and surface wears and scratches (as seen in the photos)...

Japanese antique broach in the form of an old man, Okina performance mask. The pin is made of bronze and silver mixed metal with details in red lacquer. Backed in silver with a silver mark and pin. The mask that this broach is modeled after would have been worn by kyōgen dancers in between Noh theatre acts. Signed: Akimitsu.

Age: Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 2 1/2" long

Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870 - 1949)
Tago Bay (Tagonoura)
Date: 1936. 1970s-90s edition
Size: Chuban. 11.75 x 7.75 inches.
Publisher: Doi.
Koitsu catalog no. TK-DH-2
Condition: Two small spots in top margin. Faint mark near center tree.

Japanese shin hanga woodblock print titled “Egrets in Rain” by Ohara Koson (1878-1945), also known as Shoson, published by Watanabe in 1926. This is a post-war edition with the Watanabe 6mm circular seal (used 1946-1957) at the lower right corner beneath the artist's signature and seal. Paper: 15 3/8" x 10 3/8" (image: 14 3/8" x 9 1/2"). Very good overall condition with embossed highlights in the egrets' wings. Very faintly sunstruck...

Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870 - 1949)
Nikko Futarasan
Date: 1936. 1970s-90s edition
Size: Chuban. 11.75 x 8 inches.
Publisher: Doi.
Koitsu catalog no. TK-DH-35
Condition: Two small spots in top margin and one on back.

Tsuchiya Koitsu (1870 - 1949)
Yokohama Sankei Garden
Date: 1936. 1970s-90s edition
Size: Chuban. 11.75 x 8 inches.
Publisher: Doi.
Koitsu catalog no. TK-DH-28
Condition: Point-sized spots in top margin and one small spot on back.

A very thin cast bronze image of a hunched female crow in dark olive patina with an incised signature on the underbelly Takayo dated Bunan 2 (1445). The image is made in several parts, the upper and lower halves of the body joined along the neck and under the wings, the feet separately cast and attached where they join the body. There is some form of plug, or possibly spur mark, on the breast above the signature...

Takahashi Shotei (1871-1945)
Cherry Blossoms at Sumida River Bank in Rain
Date: Pre-1936.
Size: Mitsugiri-ban. Image size 14.5 x 6.25 inches.
Scroll size: 28. x 8.625 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Title and Shotei seal at lower left.
Reference: M-27 in Shotei catalog. Watanabe #226.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print mounted as silk scroll.
Condition: Light creasing. Back paper of scroll is foxed...

Takahashi Shotei (1871-1945)
Priest in Snow on a Mountain Path
Date: Pre-1936.
Size: Mitsugiri-ban. Image size 14.5 x 6.25 inches.
Scroll size: 28 x 8.625 inches.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Title and Shotei seal at lower left.
Reference: M-60 in Shotei catalog.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print mounted as silk scroll.
Condition: Light creasing. Back paper of scroll is foxed...

Articulated iron jizai of a centipede. Below, the Amemiya sou (雨宮宗) factory seal.

The toad or frog (kaeru) is associated with good luck and wealth. Kaeru means both "toad" or "frog" and "to come home" in Japanese. This extension of meaning is due to the toad's ability to return each year to the pond of its birth...

Jizai okimono dark brown patina bronze articulated crab.

Round hare in bronze with a dark brown patina, standing on two legs. In Japanese, the hare and the rabbit are referred to by a single word: usagi. The animal is one of the twelve animals of the zodiac in Sino-Japanese astrology. It also plays a role in many folk tales and legends. A symbol of longevity, it is supposed to reach a fabulous age and turn blue at five hundred years years old.