Kobayashi Kiyochika
Taro Inari Shrine in the Asakusa Ricefields (Asakusa Tanbo Taro Inari Mae)
From the series, Famous Places of Tokyo (Tokyo Meisho).
Date: 1877-1879.
Signed by the artist at lower left above the grasses.
Publisher: Fukuda Kumajiro.
Size: Oban. Approximately 14.25 x 9.75 inches.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent color. Bumped corners. Margin lightly creases.

Ito Yuhan
Lantern in Pond
Date: 1930s. A pre-war or early postwar edition.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.75 x 10.75 inches.
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku. Seal at left margin.
Artist's signature at lower right.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

A sheet of "tatougami" made of recycled washi (Japanese handmade paper) used at a pawn shop. Hocked items were wrapped in this tatougami and kept. It is made of used washi with letters and kakishibu is painted for insect repellent and for moisture-resisting. The first half of the 20th century. In good condition but has one moth bite hole. 66cm x 66cm

Ito Yuhan
Evening at Miyajima
Date: 1930s. A pre-war or early postwar edition.
Size: Oban. Approximately 16.0 x 10.5 inches.
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku. Seal at left margin.
Artist's signature at lower right.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

Ito Yuhan
Pagoda at Nikko
Date: 1930s. A pre-war or early postwar edition.
Size: Oban. Approximately 16.0 x 10.75 inches.
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku.
Signed Y. Ito at lower left.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.

1940s Nezumi Shino Ware Chawan Teabowl for Tea Ceremony. Shino pottery is produced in today's Gifu prefecture since 16th century and it is distinguished by thick white glazes, red marks and the surface of small holes. Size Diameter 12cm Height 7.9cm Weight 380g Condition Overall good. No chips, no cracks. Supplied with wooden box

Here we have a very unique ceremonial tea implement made by one of the most important figures from Japanese tea culture in the past century. While most tea scoops (chashaku) are made of bamboo, this piece is fashioned from the branch of a plum tree and retains part of the bark on the handle...

Kawase Hasui (1883-1957)
Hikawa Park, Omiya
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.5 x 10.5 inches.
Date: 1930.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. Round, red 6 mm seal at lower left, indicating a lifetime printing (1946-1957).
Signed and sealed by the artist.
Reference: Hotei #207.
Condition: Excellent. Top back margin corner has paper residue.
"Omiya...was prosperous during the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) as a post-station on the Nakasendo." - Hotei.

Japanese woodblock print of the Yasaka pagoda in Kyoto by Toshijiro Inagaki (1902-1963) depicting, almost exclusively in shades of blue, the pagoda and surrounding houses with water and hills in the distance. The blue is relieved by a few touches of red and yellow. The artist’s seal is in the lower left corner. This design is from the 1950’s but it is not numbered so may be from a later edition...

Takahashi Shotei (Hiroaki)
Sudden Night Rain Near a Bridge
Size: Mitsugiri-ban. Approximately 15 x 6.75 inches.
Date: pre-1936.
Hiroaki seal at lower right.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
No. 539 in 1936 Watanabe catalog. M-50 in Shotei catalog.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent. Top center margin has transparent tape residue.

Takahashi Shotei
Red temple in rain; priest over the steps
Date: ca. 1920s-30s.
Size: 5.75 x 3.5 inches
Reference: S-7 in Shotei catalog.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Excellent.
Compare with our Shotei127.

Five Sake Cups by the ;legendary Okabe Mineo enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Seto-Te Hai. The cups hav a very intimate feel, tiny, just enough room for a shot, each in a different style of Mino ware: Shino, E- Shino, Ki-Seto, Nezumi Shino, and Ao-Oribe. Each cup is 4.5 cm (1-3/4 inches) diameter and all are in excellent condition. It even includes the artists biography from the time, still early in his career, likely 1950s...

Comfortable in the hand and with a unique textured black Raku glaze, this tea bowl by 20th century potter Samukawa Seiho would make a fine addition for collector and practicing tea devotee alike.

Born in Osaka at the very end of the 19th century, at a young age his family moved to Kyoto where he would later take up an apprenticeship under well-known potter Sawada Sozan...

Kawase Hasui
Evening in Beppu
Souvenirs of Travel, third series.
Date: 1929.
Publisher: Watanabe Shozaburo. A first edition with the Watanabe A seal in the right margin.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15 x 10.25 inches.
Hasui signature and seal at lower left.
Reference: Hotei No. 143.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: The back has two spots of foxing. Tone line in margins.

Arai Yoshimune
Suma Beach
The figures carrying pails are making salt.
Date 1930s.
Size: Oban. 15.25 x 10.25 inches.
Unsigned.
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku. Seal at left margin and back.
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso. Marked #103.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Toning. Faint surface scuff on beach. Upper right margin corner crease. Back corners have mounting residue.

Raised designs in slip decorate the yellow glaze of this deep bowl by Kawai Kanjiro enclosed in a kiriwood box titled O-yu Tsutsugaki-mon Wan annotated by Kawai Toshitaka, current head of the Kawai Kanjiro Museum. This piece dates from later in the artists illustrious career, 1950s-1960s. It is 4 inches (10 cm) diameter, 3-1/4 inches (5 cm) tall and in excellent condition...

Arai Yoshimune
Snow in Wakanoura Bay
Date 1930s.
Size: Chuban. 10.25 x 7.75 inches.
Sealed by the artist at lower left.
Publisher: Nishinomiya Yosaku. Seal at right margin and back
"Made in Japan" stamped on verso.
Medium: Japanese woodblock print.
Condition: Very faint foxing in sky. Back top corners have mounting residue.

Kiyomizu Rokubei Teacup Set of 11 cups for green tea.

The teaset refers to Chinese longevity teacups called Wan Shou Wu Jiang (万寿无疆 in simplified Chinese) where the character 壽 (kotobuki in Japanese or shou in Chinese) means Long Life and character 福 (fu) means Good Fortune or Blessing.

The Rokubei family is one of the most influential pottery clan from Kyoto leaded by 8th generation now with over 240 years of history.

Size
Diameter 6.6cm
Heig...

A set of colorful Tokkuri in the shape of squared gourds by Living National Treasure Kato Hajime enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Aka-e Hohyo Tokkuri (red glazed Tokkuri in squared gourd form). About the white bottom are fortuitous characters in green with a belt of blue, yellow and green in the center. They are 15.5 cm (6 inches) tall. There is slight rubbing of the red glaze typical of handling...

Dramatic waves are combed into the clay surface of this large Toban Platter by Living National Treasure Suzuki Osamu (Kura) covered in glass-like copper green; unusually signed and dated on bottom 1957 and enclosed in an artist signed wooden box...

A small bowl in Kaki-yu by important artist Kawai Kanjiro enclosed in a wooden box upon which his friend and equally important artist Munakata Shiko has painted an image of the bowl outside titled Go-Kowan (Honorable small bowl) and inside annotated: Kanjiro Sensei Saku (Made by Kanjiro), signed Munakata Shiko. It is 10 cm (4 inches) diameter and in excellent condition...

Meiji Period (1868-1912) Japanese Raku Chawan with Amazing Glaze for Tea Ceremony Raku pottery is traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremony since as early as the 16th century. Size Width 11.3cm Height 8.3cm Weight 340g + Box 260g Condition Overall good considering the age. Supplied with fabric bag shifuku and wooden box

Ota Masamitsu (Ota Gako) (1892-1975)
Nakamura Tokizo III as Shizuka Gozen
No. 7 from the shin hanga series: Leading Figures of the Modern Stage in Their Most Famous Roles (Gendai Butai Geika).
Date: 1955.
Size: Oban. Approximately 15.75 x 10.75 inches.
Publisher: Banchoro. Seal at bottom margin.
Printer: Miyake Koshodo. Seal at bottom margin.
Condition: Excellent.

Small bamboo basket box with washi. The corners of the bamboo basket are rather breakable, so it has nice washi for reinforcement outside as well as inside. In good condition. The first half of the 20th century. 10.5cm x 16cm x 5.5cm (with a lid)

Motoyama Izumi (b. 1938) Bizen Sake Bottle Tokkuri This Bizen stoneware sake bottle is made with natural ash glaze. The works of Motoyama Izumi are held in Brooklyn Museum in New York. Bizen pottery was originally produced in Imbe village of Bizen province since Kamakura period of 14th century. Size Height 12cm Diameter 8.5cm Condition : Very good condition, no chips, no cracks. Supplied with original signed wooden box.

This masterful rendition of an idilic landscape done in the Nanga style of Chinese painting is spread across three canvases titled 1) “Arashiyama” (A district nestled at the foot of Kyoto’s eastern mountain range), 2) “Kyomizu-dera” (One of Kyoto’s most iconic temples located in the western foothills), and 3) “Tatsuta” (An area west of Kyoto on the edge of Lake Biwa, known for its expansive fields of lotus flowers)...

Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950)
Mt. Rainier
United States series.
Date: 1925.
Edition: Posthumous. "Toku" (special) seal.
Size: 21.0 x 15.25 inches.
Pencil signed and titled in English. Signed and sealed in Japanese within the image.
Reference: Abe catalog #13.
Condition: Very good color. Outer margin edge is toned.

A classic design, the peach is said to represent long-life for mortals and immortality for the gods in Asian folklore. According to legend, the moon goddess—a powerful alchemist—can make an elixir from peaches that grow in the garden of the western paradise with miraculous revitalizing properties. This piece was made by one of the few great female Japanese potters of the 20th century—Suwa Sozan II, daughter of Meiji Imperial Court Artist Sozan I...

Katharine Jowett (1890-1965) Sunset Behind East Gate, Peking.
Date: ca. 1930.
Size: 10.5 x 6.0 inches.
Pencil-signed by the artist.
Medium: Woodblock print.
Condition: Light crease. See additional photos. Top back margin has transparent tape from previous framing.

Kikuchi Yuichi
Figure Walking in Snow
Date: Early 1950s.
Woodblock print is tipped at the top to an original 1950s Japanese holiday card.
Size: Approximately 5.75 x 3.75 inches.
Condition: Excellent.

Sakiori obi (sash) for casual kimono. Wefts are strips recycled from silk kimono and warps are black cotton. In excellent condition. 20th century. 13.5cm x 2m40cm

A Japanese ranma (transom) with a Hinoki (Cypress) frame and an Akita Sugi (Akita Cryptomeria) wood hand carved bamboo and plum blossom theme in a highly detailed three dimensional relief. Most likely mounted in a wealthy Japanese home or a fancy Ryokan (country inn). Its main theme is a majestic Plum Blossom tree (known as Bai) accented with Bamboo (Chiku). The ranma was often mounted above the Fusuma sliding doors between rooms to allow the air to circulate freely...

Boro furoshiki with many mending patches with various cloth and interesting mending stitches. The ground cloth is thin cotton cloth in gray. The first half of the 20th century. 126cm x 126cm

Bashofu kimono hand-woven of banana fiber for both wefts and warps. The yarn is rather thicker and tougher comparing with very fine yarn for thinner and higher quality bashofu, so that it is for a everyday kimono or work wear. Brown stripes are also banana fibers. Late 19th to early 20th century. In good condition except for a mending near the lower side in the back and wear near neck. 104cm x 115cm

As best I can tell, this is the rare first edition of this print, dating to 1934. Present are both the Watanabe "sausage" seal as well as the red 6mm seal, visible in the lower left corner of the print. The subject is commonly listed as "Snow at Ukimido Temple," and is both rare and highly sought after...

Made by Living National Treasure, Fujiwara Yu (1932-2001), this Bizen Hidasuki sake bottle was made about 50 years ago. Yu Fujiwara, one of the most well-known Bizen potters of his time, has become the fourth Bizen Living National Treasure in 1996. There are only five people having such title for Bizen pottery and his father, Kei Fujiwara, became the second Bizen Living National Treasure in 1970. Prior to that, Fujiwara Yu was designated as an Intangible Cultural Property of his native Okayam...