Catalog: Antiques: Regional Art (247)

Old Chago, Japanese tea leaf measuring scoop made out of bamboo. Taisho period. 6 1/4" x 2"

A superb quality set of court musician dolls for Japanese Girl’s Day, Hina Matsuri.
The Hina festival takes place every March 3rd in Japan and it is a day of celebration for the well-being of every girl in the family. In earlier days, people were more susceptible to natural disasters or diseases, so in order to keep evil spirits away, this day was spent giving offerings to God. This custom was adopted from the 7th century Chinese ceremony that originally took place on the beach...

The Nobori banners for Boy's Day in Japan are very eye-catching. It may be rare to see them actually used today but many that we have left feature colorful drawings of Samurai warriors, heroes from the past, or characters or animals from the stories.

The word NOBORU is to climb as in to climb up, amount to someone worthy or it could simply mean something visibly towering high in the battle field...

Antique Japanese “Yogi” bed comforter, hand-spun cotton with "tsutsugaki" paste resist dye in aizome Japanese indigo dye. The design is auspicious symbol, Sho-Chiku-Bai (pine, bamboo, plums). The shoulder and collar areas are accented with "kasuri" cotton. Excellent condition - no holes on the front except one small L shape cut (3/4"x3/4") on the lower area, some repairs on the liner. Cotton wadding was taken out and cleaned (but not washed)...

Beautiful old Japanese woven silk uchikake gown in new condition. The size of this gown is small (much shorter) and light in weight. We are not sure how gowns in this style were worn but our humble guess would be that they were either made into jackets for upper class women (style is similar to kosode from late Edo period), Noh custumes or wedding gowns (though the sleeves are short). Subtle but beautiful, will make a great wall decoration...

A woven antique Japanese men's wallet decorated with geometric design created with brocaded silk ribbon. Inside, hand stitched with Sashiko stitches on silk. The shakudo clasp is tomo-e shaped and inlaid with copper and silver. Silvered metal (brass?) netsuke in the shape of a tongue cut sparrow attached with three colored metal chain. Circa, early 1900s (Taisho period). Dimensions: 5 1/4" x 3 1/8"

A set of Japanese bira-bira kanzashi (hair ornament) with silver and gold plated peonies, foliage, coral beads and dangling chains. Meiji period. This set has been recently cleaned by a jeweler. Kanzashi 8 1/4" long, chains 4" long.

Antique Japanese hairpin, Bira Kanzashi with coral, flowers in a basket, 6 1/4" long.

Large Japanese antique oshi-e ningyo(doll), Geisha playing the koto: 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...

Japanese Kesa, buddhist priests' robe, silk brocades, excellent condition. Circa early 1900 to 1940. Dimensions: 46" x 75"

A daimyo’s firefighting wool jacket with a Kiri-no-mon crest, chest protector baring the same crest. It has a silk liner decorated with old marble dye. Dated from late Edo period (1603-1868),

Japanese could not produce wool of their own during the Edo period. Totally depending on Nanban trading, wool was pretty rare and pricey commodity. The liner for this jacket is also unusual. This is our first and only antique marble dyed fabric ever...

This is a beautiful old Chinese necklace made out of genuine natural corals. The color is salmon pink. Approx. 63.5cm (25 inches) long and weigh 66.3 grams. The measurements of the center coral are: 1.4cm x 1.7cm in diameter. Circa 1930.

Note: In our photos, orange/brown tone had shown up a little too strong and hid a pink tone.

Old Chinese ivory figure of Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, in a refined and elegant pose. The body is made out of one piece elephant ivory and finish in a term "cold painted ivory" meaning that the color is applied without any firing to fix and harden it. This method of coloring ivory dates back to the Ming times and was particularly popular in the 18th century. This is probably 19th century piece. Her wonderfully tranquil face and the excellent painting make this a desirable piece...

This is a superior Takeda ningyo (doll), an old Japanese theater doll which was most likely modeled after the character, Teiseiko from “Kokusenya-ya-Gassen.” It was a popular theater play in 18th to 19th century Japan. The setting of the play is during mid 17th century China towards the end of the Ming Dynasty. Teiseiko (also known as Watonai) was fighting the battle for the old dynasty...

Japanese Kesa, Buddhist Priests' Robe, soft brocades with silk liner. The liner has some discoloration and is soiled. 46" x 77 1/2"

A beautiful hand painted Uchikake kimono with pine trees and rocks in sumi-e black ink (dye) style, a symbol of winter, New Year and the longevity. The fabric is Shioze silk (thicker than regular silk), not shiney as satin silk. Very well preserved; no stains. It is evenly discolored to a creamy color and still wearable. Circa, late Meiji to early Showa, 1900 to 1940.

Dimensions: 51 inches (sleeve to sleeve) x 71 inches long

Many stories were written about the rising power of the samurai class in late 12th century Japan. Kanjincho, the Kabuki adaptation of the Noh play, Ataka, was first performed at the end of the Edo period in 1840. The costume and hat of this doll tell us that this is Togashi, a chief officer at Ataka inspection barrier in the Kabuki play, “Kanjincho”...

Unique old Japanese yogi (kimono-shaped futon bed cover) from Kaga, a weeping willow tree with a butterfly family crest, 57" x 72", Meiji Period (1868-1912).

Kaga, located in today's Kanazawa prefecture area, was known as "Kaga One-million Koku", the wealthiest domain next to the Tokugawa Shogun family during the Edo period (1603-1868). Each domain was assessed its wealth measured by "koku." Most samurai received stipends in koku...