Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - each depicting different hanaike - hanging container for flower arrangement, one made out of a bamboo stem, the other out of a hollow double gourd. Fantastic unusual design in Japanese taste, excellent casting and detailing, beautiful patina. Length 1 7/16 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting young Yoshitsune and Benkei at the Gojo bridge in Kyoto. For an account of this significant encounter see H. Joly LEGEND IN JAPANESE ART, p. 82. Do not photograph well. Shakudo body, silver inlaid highlights, in great condition. Length of Yoshitsune menuki is 1 inch.

Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - each depicting a wasp in different attitude on a tube containing their eggs. Shakudo with gilding, fantastic design, superb casting and detailing, beautiful patina. Length 1 7/16 inches.

Pair of early 19th century Japanese sword menuki depicting two dancers - a samurai with sword, and a merchant with fan. There is a nice detail for a netsuke lover - merchant is wearing an inro suspended by a gourd netsuke. Elegant design, superb detailing with gilding, in excellent condition. Fantastic example of Japanese metalwork. Height 1 1/8 inches.

Pair of early 19th century menuki - Japanese sword fittings - each depicting a pair of pigeons in different attitudes. Superb design, excellent casting and detailing, beautiful patina. Length 1 3/16 inches.

Very unusual 19th century Japanese multimetal pendant in a shape of standing geisha holding an umbrella. Definitely made by a metalsmith who was engaged in making sword parts such as menuki and fuchi / kashira. Very clever design, superb detailing both on front and back, great quality inlays and gilding, in excellent condition. Height 15/16 inches.

Early 19th century Japanese kashira (metal pommel at the end of the hilt of a sword) with relief decoration of two shishi (Buddhist lions) frolicking among huge peony flowers. Superbly made piece with crisp metalwork, shakudo body with gilding, in excellent condition. Length 1 3/8 inches.

War fan, gunbai uchiwa, made of bronze clad wood, in the shape of a butterfly. In low relief on front and back the text Hachiman Daibosatsu, surrounded by generic family crests in the shape of quinces. Hachiman is a war deity. These fans were traditionally handled by samurai commanders to direct his troops in battle. It is also a symbol of power. Japan, Meiji era, late 19th century.

H 21.5 x W 15.75 inches

Some corrosion, good condition

19th century Japanese kozuka (sword knife) handle depicting a lobster and some fishing implements including a straw raincoat and a woven ring. Clever design of the terminus as a curled lobster, superb crisp work - see the fine differentiated textures of the crustacean’s body, ring and long strands of the coat...

Japanese circular jingasa with a gradual pointed top and curved rim in the front. Lacquered black with a crest in gold. The underside is lacquered red.

Jingasa ("war hat", a type of kasa commonly worn by samurai and ashigaru.
In the Edo period, the politics of display of sankin kôtai and other ceremonial occasions led to jingasa becoming more decorative in appearance, as was also the case for many other items of samurai arms, armor, and clothing...

Antique Japanese bajo jingasa, lacquered military hat for a horseman. Decorated with textured brown lacquer and with the Kyogoku family mon in gold. The underside is lacquered red with a black circle in the center and four hooks for chords...

An antique Japanese full length tanegashima rifle with working original matchlock mechanism. Hand made of high figure burl keyaki hardwood with original translucent lacquer finish. The whole length of the hand forged iron barrel is inlaid with a swirling silver dragon in clouds and the crest of the noble Tokugawa clan with six character mark which reads: 松平三河守 Matsudaira Mikawa-no-kami. Matsudaira refers to the Matsudaira clan...

Antique Japanese uma-jirushi, flag standard for battle. This uma-jirushi is a large inverted gourd surrounded by smaller gourds. The great daimyo, Hideyoshi Toyotomi (famous for being the second unifier of Japan) made the upside down gourd his uma-jirushi symbol. A large upside down gourd was placed on top of his flag pole and smaller gourds were added around it with each victory. Called "Sen nari hisago" or "thousand gourds"...

Antique pair of Japanese menuki. These small but detailed elements of a traditional samurai sword were originally made to hide the pins (mekugi) that hold the back end of the blade (tang) to the hilt (tsuka). Made in pairs, they were positioned on either side of the handle. These menuki are especially fine and depict two men, likely sages by their long hair. Probably they are the friends, Kanzan (the Zen poet) and Jittoku (a servant at a monastery)...

An exempliary Japanese 18th century Edo Period Myochin school iron somen (full facial armor). Constructed in three sections producing a very expressive fearsome face. The stylized curled eyebrows, bulging eyes, forehead wrinkles repouse in high relief.
The bulbous noise and upper lip is riveted on. The mouth section has two large rings on the cheeks and is hinged to the upper face portion. The chin has two cord pegs. The sides have iron coverings to protect he ears...

18th to 19th century Japanese sword set of fuchi (bordering piece between the sword guard and the handle) and kashira (metal pommel at the end of the hilt of a sword) with relief decoration of multiple monkeys pulling a rope tied to a huge branch with fruit, all on finely punched ground texture called nanako, which means “fish-eggs” as it resembles fine rows of caviar. Excellent quality multimetal work, gilding, overall in excellent condition...

Very beautiful tsuba in sentoku inlaid with shakudo, gold and silver by Jo-I, first-rank artist from the end of the 18th century. The funny subject represents a man driving demons out of his house by throwing beans on the ground. Excellent work, perfect finish. No restoration or hidden defects. Original patinas. 67x58x4 mm

An excellent shakudo tsuba inlaid with a "thousand flowers" decoration in gold, silver and sentoku. The technique is particular, the tsuba is first cast in shakudo with all the flowers in relief, then chiseled. Then each flower is covered with a thick sheet of metal, gold, silver or sentoku, this sheet is hammered on the sides of the flowers as one would border a bed sheet. Excellent work , exceedingly difficult more than inlaid...