Catalog (216)

Japanese Boy's Day samurai Yoroi and Kabuto (armor,helmet) set. Musha ningyo (Samurai dolls), Yoroi and Kabuto (helmet), swords, banners and carps are a part of the display used for the Boy's Day in Japan. Culturally, the Japanese emphasize anything to do with children. The Girl's day with hina dolls is in March. The warrior's set like this will inspire boys in their manliness and hopefully bravery, discipline and honor codes come with it.

All the fabric used marked as pure silk....

Elegant Japanese kimono wedding gown (Uchikake) designed by Hanae Mori. The gown displays the designer’s logo without a signature; her butterflies and initials are woven all over the red liner. Hanae Mori is truly the first and most famous international Japanese designer of the 20th century. She not only contributed to the Japanese clothing industry but to many other areas since the rebuilding time of Japan after WWII. A year after she opened a boutique in Paris, she became the only asian w...

This is a beautiful dark blue Japanese Uchikake (wedding gown) made in Nishijin, Kyoto. The label states the name of Nishijin and the use of pure gold. The gown is woven with fans and Gosho (palace) flower carts which is one of the favorite motifs used for Japanese wedding gowns. They are remainders of the Heian period (794-1192) which was the last graceful era of the aristocrats. The gown is meticulously hand sewn to perfection as most Japanese kimonos are. The gold picks up and shines...

Japanese Uchikake (wedding gown) with Imperial Carts, flowers and gold color “maku” (outside cloth divider). The divider is used as a street on this gown leading the wagons to the large area at the bottom half. The background colors from the top are orange, light pink to dark gray at the bottom. The liner is red. The condition is excellent, like new.
53" W x 75 1/2" L (sleeve length 41")

Elegant Japanese uchikake (traditional wedding gown) sewn in the style of the twelve layered court attire (juni-hitoe) from the Heian period (794-1160). The longing for the beautiful, culture rich era of the aristocrats that existed so long ago never seems to cease in people's mind even after 1000 years. Here on this red background, the classic design of the ox-cart in a pine forest is beautifully woven in gold. The layer of robes could have gone up to 15 or even more. High ranking ladies ...

Large Japanese porcelain vase by Shumei Fujii, decorated with the design of white herons and pine in underglaze blue and pale green. The rest of the areas are covered with white gold (straight translation from the "title", platinum like), all hand decorated with the artist’s signature at the bottom. Beautiful "Tsubo" in museum quality.

Shumei Fujii (1936 to present) is a famous Arita ceramic artist with a remarkable record. He won numerous awards and prizes at art exhibitions ov...

Japanese uchikake (wedding gown) with a colorful design of flowers and birds done in the Tsujigahana-zome (dye) style. The old Tsujigahana dye technique was used on the clothing of the Muromachi to Momoyama period elites. Inside the tie dyed area, flowers and birds were painted with blue, purple and black ink. Tsujigahana-dye was short lived and completely vanished by the early 17th century because of its extreme complexity. This gown is very beautiful with many woven metal threads;...

9.5 feet long hand-painted Japanese carp banner (Koi-nobori) for Boy's Day. Here on this banner, a mighty little boy named Kintaro, is hitching a ride on a carp. Kintaro may be a creation from a theater play (jyoruri and kabuki) of the Edo period – although he is said to be a childhood figure of the 10th century samurai, Sakata no Kinsuke - he is extremely strong and still a popular hero figure for Japanese boys. Kintaro (Kinta) figures are often seen carrying an ax, wrestling with bea...

Japanese armor Yoroi and Kabuto helmet in classic style, wearable, adult size from early to mid Showa period (1926~1989). The armor is lined with hemp in most area. Dimensions: 67" tall. Box: 16 1/2" x 16 1/2" x 24"H

A large cloth, silk brocade, lined with cotton with ties on one side. Dimensions: 104 1/4” long x 45” in width (2.65m x 1.14m). There are four 26” panels sewn together (sewing machine), each panel is decorated with a pair of phoenix birds one parched on a paulownia tree and the other on a rock. Although the fabric is of high quality silk, it actually is older than it appears - you need to handled gently. The gold sparkles when it is hit by lights. The color is not red. It is mo...

Fine Japanese miniature garden kit, all made with natural material, ca 1940-1960, original wood box. We used a simple cardboard box as a tray with small black pebbles under. You can created/draw water if the sand is used instead. The dimension of the box are 15 3/4” x 7 3/16” x 3 5/8”. Fence: 9 1/8 long (flattened for storage) x 3 3/4” high. Board with a frog: 5 1/8” long. Please ask for other measurements.

Japanese Fukagawa vase with raised persimmon. Fukagawa is located in Saga (Arita/Imari area) in sourthern Kyushu ireland and has been well known for its quality white porcelain. The signature indicates that this was probably made in early 1900s. The measurements are 6 1/4 inches high and 5 1/4 inches wide in diameter.

Japanese cloth taken from an old futon bed cover, decorated with an auspicious motif of pine, bamboo and plum blossoms. The evergreen pine symbolizes the strength and devotion of men; plum blossoms are the purity, subtle beauty and inner strength of women. Bamboos are often used to describe the personality of men and women; for example, a person being as straight (honest) as bamboo, it could also mean flexible (bendable) to a large extent. When pine (matsu, SHO), bamboo (take, CHIKU) and plum ...

Japanese obi, nagoya style, painted with two noh masks on soft satin silk. The base color is a gentle pink/wisteria color with earth-tone. Taisho/Early Showa.

This is an antique men's silk juban, an undergarment worn under a kimono. For today’s standards, it is very odd to see such an extravagant hidden personal item. During the Edo period, which ended in 1868, common people were not allowed to wear silk. The growing economical power of merchants came along with social disorder and corruption. The Tokugawa government issued many sumptuary laws to limit the spending of the general people on luxury items. One way to avoid the punishment was to spend t...

Kesa was originally made from old scraps of material donated to the priests. The scraps became finer and quite luxious in time. People who gave to Buddhist institutions were often keen to give very expensive items, so some fabulous kesas were created from wonderful silk brocades. This also could mean that the wealthier temples end up collecting the better fabrics or are able to send out for the expensive custom made kesas. This kesa is hichi-jo (seven panel) kesa, silk brocade with silver ...

Large Japanese antique oshi-e ningyo(doll), Kabuki samurai "aragoto" actor on stage: Matsumoto Oshi-e bina (hina ningyo in Oshi-e style) was originally made by the Samurai family who served in the Matsumoto Castle to supplement their income sometime in the mid Edo period (1603-1868). They became quite quite popular in the 1800s, 400 million dollars sale (in current currency) was recorded in 1888. The characteristics of Matsumoto Oshi-e ningyo (dolls) are that the design is stuffed heavily ...