A kakemono presenting an example of calligraphy by Shunsui Rai, 1743 ~ 1813. Shunsui was a Confucian scholar of some influence in the Hiroshima district and an historian. He is the father of Sanyo Rai, 1781~1832, who also became a notable calligrapher and a painter and scholar.

Overall the dimensions are 170cm x 36cm. The picture size is 91cm x 25cm. The scroll ends are rosewood. Good condition overall with just minor horizontal creases noted...

Japanese scrolled painting on silk by Kikuchi Yosai (1788-1878), also known as Kikuchi Takeyasu, depicting the sun rising behind Mount Horai. Signed in black ink at the lower left and with the artist's red Takeyasu seal below. A symbol for Japan, Mount Horai (Treasure Mountain) is a lofty mountain covered in pine, prunus, and bamboo on a mythical island of immortals in a distant sea...

"Yacchimatta!" the lost soul seems to say as he slaps himself on the head, a sake cup and Tokkuri wine flask in front of him. Ink on dark paper with patterned dark cloth boarder with wide gray piping and featuring bone rollers. The skeleton and or skull have long been featured in Japanese art, both secular and Buddhist. It is used as a symbol of impermanence and as a Zen teaching tool...

Antique 2-panels screen painting from the interior of a wealthy home in Momoyama Period Japan. Each of these two rectangular shaped panels is painted with a fan shaped reserve. The fan on the left panel is painted with a branch of blossoming white flowers, possibly dogwood and is shadowed by another blue and gold fan shaped reserve. The fan on the right panel is painted in ink with a bird on a branch and shadowed with a green and gold fan...

Japanese screen painting in two panels of butterflies and moths. The etherial quality of the fluttering creatures is conveyed by delicately painted details and movement. Painted in mineral colors on silk. Each rectangular silk composition has been mounted on a ground of gold leaf on paper. Seal mark on the left hand panel: Watanabe Kiyoshi.

Watanabe Kiyoshi (1778-1861) was born into a family specializing in embroidery in Nagoya...

This tranquil winter scene showing a group of birds taking shelter in the snowy boughs of a tree was done by well-known Edo painter, poet, and tea ceremony devotee—Baiitsu Yamamoto.

A native of Nagoya, a bustling Japanese center for shipping and trade in Late Edo, Baiitsu was heavily influenced by works of Chinese art, especially the naturalistic landscapes that made their way into Japan through this port city...

Antique Japanese 2-panel byobu screen. Covered with small squares of pale gold leaf. That this is antique is told by the size and quality of the gold leaf squares.

Dimensions: 35 1/4" high x 51 1/2" long

A small cottage perched on the edge of a tranquil lake, fishermen heading out in the morning chill to secure their daily catch. This pastoral scene from the Japanese countryside was captured over 300 years ago by painter, poet, and Buddhist monk Hyakusetsu Genyō (poet) and Kuge Yaou (painter) a monk of the Tenryu-ji sect.

Dharma heir to Chinese monk Gaoquan Xingdun, Hyakusetsu Genyō began his spiritual practice in the Rinzai sect under his teacher Hyakuju...

Antique Japanese screen painting in 6 panels. Painted to resemble a samurai encampment space divider. The simple graphics of the curtain-like camp divider are painted in black and white and displays the kamon (crest) of the Takiyama Family. Narrow slits between the white and black sections of cloth were for the wind to pass through, preventing the curtain from becoming a sail. Thick striped rope securely ties the curtain to tall stakes in the ground...

Antique Japanese Zenga scroll painting of a scholar's cane or staff. Elongated vertical composition with calligraphy. Painted in sumi ink on paper...

Antique Japanese scroll painting of a mountain scene. A pagoda rises in the distance, behind it, a misty mountain range. In the foreground a small figure crosses a bridge. Signed by Kano Tsunenobu (1636-1713). Sumi ink on silk. Provenance Collection of Vlasheslav Batov, Illinois

Age: Edo Period (circa late 1600's to early 1700's)

Dimensions: Total: 51 1/4" high x 29 3/4" wide (32 1/2" wide including rollers). Size of art: 15 3/4" high x 25 1/2" wide.

Pair of folding screens with painted decoration on paper. The screens are made up of six leaves representing figures in a landscape decorated with pine trees and enhanced with gold leaf...

A fine example of Edo period Kano painting, this generously proportioned hanging scroll illustrates a late autumn scene from the Japanese countryside over 300 years ago. The poem on the scroll reads:

Solitary, with the color, of nothingness
A close to autumn, on a ring of mountaintops

The painter, Minenobu Kano (1662 - 1708), was greatly admired by the Ienobu Tokugawa shogunate who eventually promoted him to the position of inner-court artist. As a result...

Antique Japanese scroll painting of Buddha Amitābha also known simply as Amida Buddha. Here he stands with each foot on a lotus blossom, floating on swirling clouds against a black void as he descents. His hands are in vitarka mudra, also known as Raikō gesture of welcoming souls to Paradise (Jōdō or Sukhavati in Sanskrit). Amitābha (which means Infinite or Immeasurable light) is much loved for his gentle wisdom and his all accepting nature. Painted in ink, mineral colors and gold o...

A collaboration piece between the famed poet/ nun of the late Edo period Rengetsu and her younger protege Tessai, this scroll depicts a frightened cricket making his way to the top of a stalk of grass on a windy day. Set in the fall season, the viewer can imagine a message of frailty, loneliness, and possibly the feeling of trepidation that accompanies the turning of the seasons towards the colder months. Melancholic though it may seem at first glance, there is the deeper, more hopeful message o...

Third son of the director of the Kano School of painting, Yasunobu was appointed head of the Kyoto branch at a young age after his father’s death. Meanwhile, his two older brothers went to Edo to take up prestigious positions painting for the Tokugawa Shogunate. In 1662 Yasunobu gained the honorific title of “Hogen,” and near the end of his life in his 70s he wrote a treatise on the art of painting that would server as a central doctrine for later generations of painters. Here we see a str...

This Edo period scroll depicts Meota Iwa—a famous Japanese landmark in Mie. Symbolizing the union between two divine deities, Izanagi (said to be the larger rock, though there is no consensus on this point) and his wife Izanami, the two are joined by a shimenawa (heavy straw rope used in Japanese Shinto ceremonies). This straw rope is quite massive and must be replaced several times a year in a special ceremony. One could think of this in terms of the care and maintenance required to keep a ma...

A classic renditions of the Bodhidharma (more commonly known as the Daruma in Japan), this scroll from the Muromachi period (1336-1573) depicts the legendary monk who famously introduced Buddhism to China. Originally from India, he is said to have traveled across the Himalayas on foot to share the wisdom and knowledge from his studies of meditation which later spread to Japan, Korea, and other parts of the world. In Japanese Buddhist paintings from Edo to the present, the Daruma is often seen as...

An antique pair of Japanese Fusuma doors made of Hinoki (Cypress) and Sugi (Cryptomeria) woods. Natural Urushi lacquer frame and hand painted design of Bamboo trees on one side and Pine trees with Bamboo on the opposite side. Bamboo symbolized tenacity and perseverance while the Pine tree represented a long life making these doors auspicious and full of good luck.

Age: Meiji Period (1880-1890)

Dimensions: Each 35 1/2" Wide by 71 1/2" High.

Original work of Yanagisawa Kien (1703-1758) Antique Japanese Painting of Jurojin, the God of Longevity

Yanagisawa Kien was a samurai in the middle of the Edo period and a pioneer of Nanga painting style. He is also known as Chikkei and Gyokkei.

His father was one the important member of the Yanagisawa samurai clan, which rose to prominence under the Edo period Tokugawa shogunate.

As a child, he lived in Edo and developed an interest in painting at the age of nin...

Japanese scroll painting of 3 skeletons celebrating Obon. One skeleton dances with a fan while two others pay a drum and a shamisen. The Obon festival happens in summer and is a time to honor the dead with music, dance, parades and other events. It is believed that ancestors' spirits return to the world of the living during Obon. Painted in ink and light colors on silk. Signed and with seal of Takeuchi Seiho (1864 - 1942) Seiho traveled and studied in Europe was being strongly influenced ...

Antique Japanese fushima (sliding door panel). Painting with a crane and pine tree on a background of gold mist. Painted in mineral colors on a sugi (cryptomeria) wood panel and framed with black lacquered hinoki (Japanese cypress) wood.

Age: Meiji Period (1868-1912)

Dimensions: 68 1/4" high x 36 1/4" wide x 1 1/4" deep

Japanese rare antique 3-panel screen painting of Raigo Zu: Amida Buddha in Raigo pose. The screen has three panels with the two outer panels half the width of the central panel so they open like shrine doors. A bronze butsudan latch keeps the doors closed. The screen opens to reveal a central panel with a large image of Amida Buddha painted in mineral colors and gold on silk and framed with silk brocade of golden clouds. The outer frame is lacquered red.

Age: Muromachi/Momoyama Per...

A black bird sporting a tufted beak shelters among the thick foliage of fresh bamboo by the easily identifiable and quite rare artist Sakakibara Shiho performed with pigment on silk in the original signed double wood box titled Mosochiku Hakkacho (Crested Myna Bird in Moso Bamboo), a favorite motif by the artist dating from the Taisho period. It is bordered in fine pattered silk threaded with gold and is appointed with solid ivory rollers (these will be changed if exporting). A major work, the...

Composed by one of the most well-regarded and important figures within the Kanō tradition of painting, here we see a whimsical rendition of tiger and cub prancing through the forest. With its beautiful and well-preserved silk brocade to highlight the scene, the overall composition radiates a feeling of lightness and playful curiosity.

Oldest son to Kanō Takanobu, Tanyu was appointed as the first designated painter to the Tokugawa Shogunate. An enthusiast for Chinese style painting...

Antique Japanese scroll painting of Kannon also known as Guanyin. The Goddess of Mercy sits on a rock overhanging a still body of water. She is silhouetted by the full moon. Painted in sumi-e ink on paper. There is a seal in the lower right hand side.

Age: Edo Period (1603-1867)

Dimensions: Total size of scroll: 70 1/2" high x 15 3/4" wide (18" wide including rollers). Size of art: 37 1/2" high x 11 1/2" wide

The large characters in the center of this scroll "南無妙法蓮華経" are pronounced as "Namu Myōho Renge Kyō” in English — a phrase associated with Nichiren Buddhism that is often recited as a mantra, expressing devotion to the Lotus Sutra. This sutra is one of the main tenants of Nichiren and is thought by devotees to be the ultimate law and truth of the universe. Commissioned in 1690, this scroll commemorates the reconstruction of the main hall of Ryuhon-ji Temple, estab...

Antique Japanese scroll painting of two tigers. One looks back as it climbs up a rocky hill while the other looks out from it's shelter under an outcropping. Beautifully painted with details of every stripe and whisker. Ink and colors on silk. Signed by the artist.

Age: Taisho Period (early 20th century)

Dimensions: Size of scroll: 78 1/2" high x 21 5/8" wide (24" wide including rollers). Painting: 44 3/4" high x 16 1/4" wide

Japanese antique small 6-panel screen painting of five cranes flying over waves as the sun rises in the distance. Painted in mineral colors with gold flecks on paper. Signature: Morifusa.

Age: Showa Period Mid 20th Century

Dimensions: 22 1/2" high x 62 1/2" long

NUDE

Hand-drawn Japanese painting on thin silk backed with paper, Meiji-Taisho period, early 20th century, Japan, 39 x 28 cm (15.35 x 11.02in). Very early unique Japanese modern style with traditional Japanese technique and method combined with the taste of Western romance and decadence. Aged deterioration as is, and backing paper pasted on just one side among the four sides, as seen. *Fixed with four small magnets on the wall when shooting, so that no holes at the ...

A very rare early work by Shirakura Niho dating from the mid Taisho period clearly showing his early watercolor training under Ishii Hakutei signed with his first art name, Kinro. Light color on silk framed in patterned silk extended with classic beige and terminating in red lacquered wooden rollers. It is 45.5 x 107.5 cm (18 x 42-1/2 inches) and is in overall excellent original condition, enclosed in a modern wooden storage box.
Shirakura Kinichiro (Kinro, Niho or Jiho, Kanyu, 1896-1974...