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Japanese Antiques

19th Century Japanese Turtle Kinko Menuki

19th Century Japanese Turtle Kinko Menuki
Photo Credit: matsu-kaze-japan

19th Century Japanese Turtle Kinko Menuki

Buy It Now Price: $275 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This pair of 19th century kinko menuki from the Japanese Edo era feature turtles rendered in dark shakudo metal with gilt shell highlights.

-These antique menuki measure 39 mm (1.54 inches) long each, which is a fairly typical size.

-Menuki were made in matching sets of two, which were meant to be affixed to either side of a samurai sword hilt (called a tsuka).  Menuki were primarily decorative in nature, but may have also allowed a samurai warrior to achieve a better grip on his sword.

-According to the seller, these turtle-themed kinko menuki may be unused – an assessment I wholeheartedly agree with.  These menuki are obviously old – almost certainly from the 1860s or earlier – yet are still in pristine condition with fully intact gilding.

-Kinko is the Japanese term for “soft metal” and refers to samurai sword fittings made from non-ferrous metals like copper, silver or gold.  The kinko menuki featured here are made from shakudo, a traditional Japanese alloy made primary of copper with a small percentage of gold (usually from 2% to 7%).

-Japanese antiques in general, and old samurai sword fittings in particular, are extremely undervalued in my opinion.  It is possible to buy some truly fabulous investment grade pieces (like this one) from the days of geisha, daimyō and samurai for only a few hundred dollars (or less)!

-The stylistic similarities of these turtle menuki to the fictional kaiju Gamera is uncanny.  Gamera is a giant turtle monster that first appeared in the 1965 Japanese film by Noriaki Yuasa titled “Gamera, the Giant Monster”.  The Gamera-like qualities of these menuki indicate that the cultural idea behind Japanese kaiju has been around for many hundreds of years.

-These 19th century turtle kinko menuki are an unbelievably good value at only $275.  The level of detail and craftsmanship displayed on these pieces is absolutely superb.  They would make a great addition to your tangible asset portfolio,  Japanese antique collection, or gift to your favorite samurai enthusiast.

 

Cons:

-There are simply no cons to these beautiful and historic menuki, as far as I can tell.  This is meaningful in itself, as it is very rare for me say that an item has no downsides whatsoever.

 

Read more fascinating Antique Sage Japanese antique spotlight posts here.

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Japanese Woodblock Print by Tsuchiya Koitsu – Evening at Ushigome

Japanese Woodblock Print by Tsuchiya Koitsu - Evening at Ushigome
Photo Credit: Craigkc

Japanese Woodblock Print by Tsuchiya Koitsu – Evening at Ushigome

Buy It Now Price: $299.99 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This Japanese woodblock print is a vintage reprint of a 1939 work titled “Evening at Ushigome” by the well-regarded Shin Hanga artist Tsuchiya Koitsu.  The work features a rainy urban night scene set in a Tokyo neighborhood populated by haunting, ethereal women in traditional Japanese dress.

-This Japanese woodblock print measures 15.375 inches (39.1 cm) tall by 10.125 inches (25.7 cm) wide, making it one of the larger, “Oban” sizes.

-Tsuchiya Koitsu was a Japanese artist known for his atmospheric landscapes in the Shin Hanga style.  He apprenticed under the Ukiyo-e master Kiyochika Kobayashi before eventually adopting the Shin Hanga style around 1931.

-This Japanese woodblock print was published by Doi Hangaten, a well known mid-20th century publisher of Shin Hanga works.  It also displays an offset “Harada-Yokoi” carver-printer seal, which is fairly common on vintage Tsuchiya Koitsu prints.  This combination of seals (reference K34) allows us to pinpoint the date of this particular print between 1950 and 1963.

-The back of the print features an old art gallery tag that reads “A Genuine Wood-Block Print | Ace Art Shop | 115 Nakasato-Cho, Kita-Ku, Tokyo, Japan | #27”.  The Ace Art Shop is a now defunct Tokyo gallery that was active back in the 1960s (and possibly earlier).  It’s really great to have this little extra piece of provenance attached to the print.

-Although it isn’t a first edition, this Tsuchiya Koitsu Japanese woodblock print is undoubtedly an earlier, circa 1950s version.  This makes it much more desirable (and valuable) than later 1990s to 2010s Heisei era reprints.

-Given that this is a genuine vintage Japanese woodblock print from the mid-20th century by a famous Shin Hanga artist, the asking price of $300 is a bargain.  It is far more common to find later reprinted versions for hardly any cheaper, so why not pay an extra $100 and get a vintage version with greater appreciation potential?

 

Cons:

-This example of Evening at Ushigome has the remnants of yellowed tape residue around the margins.  This means the work isn’t in pristine condition, a fact that decreased its desirability somewhat.  Even so, I feel it is still in fairly good condition and certainly worth the asking price.

-The work comes unframed.  With acid-free matting and UV-resistant glass, framing costs will typically run another $100 to $300 (in addition to the $300 asking price).

 

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Signed Antique Japanese Tsuka with Bat Theme

Signed Antique Japanese Tsuka with Bat Theme
Photo Credit: matsu-kaze-japan

Signed Antique Japanese Tsuka with Bat Theme

Buy It Now Price: $565 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This fantastic Edo era Japanese tsuka, or samurai sword handle, features a fabric-wrapped ray-skin handle, figural menuki fittings and bat-themed fuchi and kashira mountings.

-This antique Japanese tsuka measures a healthy 178 mm (7.0 inches) long, meaning that it once held a full-size katana blade.

-This piece undoubtedly dates to no later than the end of the Tokugawa shogunate, circa 1868.  And, in all probability, it was made well before then.

-Bats were generally regarded as a good luck symbol in pre-modern Japan.

-This samurai sword handle has a highly desirable full-wrap ray-skin with emperor nodes visible.  The ray-skin’s seam can be seen on the ura (back) side.

-This antique Japanese tsuka is signed “Naoharu” by its creator!  The best known samurai tsuba master by this name was the legendary Yanagawa Naoharu, who worked in the late 1700s and early 1800s.  However, I suspect the maker of this piece was a different Naoharu.  Nevertheless, a signed Japanese tsuka is much more desirable than an unsigned piece.

-The fittings on this antique tsuka are made from high quality metals: shibuichi, silver and gold.  Shibuichi, a traditional alloy of copper and silver, was very popular with Japanese metalsmiths in the 18th and 19th century.  You can read up more about antique samurai sword fittings in my well-researched article on the topic.

-I love the foreboding Gothic overtones of this Far Eastern treasure.  If Dracula were a samurai, this is definitely the kind of sword handle that he would use!

-The workmanship on this piece is absolutely superb, bordering on museum quality.  I’m amazed it is available for only $565.  Regardless of whether you are a samurai sword enthusiast, an antique investor, or just a collector of Japanese curiosities, this prize is easily worth every penny of the asking price.

 

Cons:

-This antique Japanese sword handle has a slight bump on the unadorned side of its fuchi (which is not visible in the photo above).  A fuchi is the narrow metal collar that sits between the top of the sword handle and the sword guard, or tsuba (which is not present in this piece).  However, this is a minor defect for such a magnificent specimen.

 

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Silver Fuchi & Kashira Set from the Bakumatsu Era

Silver Fuchi & Kashira Set from the Bakumatsu Era
Photo Credit: Matsu-Kaze Japan

Silver Fuchi & Kashira Set from the Bakumatsu Era

Buy It Now Price: $285 (price as of 2019; item no longer available)

Pros:

-This solid silver fuchi & kashira set from the 19th century Japanese Bakumatsu era features gilt trim, exquisite decoration and a prominent kamon motif.

-The fuchi in this set measures 42.6 mm (1.68 inches) long by 22.3 mm (0.88 inches) wide.

-The Bakumatsu period was a turbulent time in Japanese history, extending from the arrival of U.S. Commodore Perry’s “Black Ships” in Edo Bay in 1853 until the final collapse of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1868.

-Antique Japanese samurai sword fittings, like this silver fuchi & kashira set, are incredibly popular with collectors today.  The fuchi was a metal collar that fit underneath a sword’s tsuba, or hand guard.  The kashira was the butt-end of a sword handle, also known as a pommel in Western parlance.

-This silver fuchi & kashira set is being sold by Matsu-Kaze Japan, a respected antiques dealer located in Japan.  In addition, the set comes in a traditional Paulownia wood case for storage purposes.

-The kashira (pommel) in this set is engraved with a kamon, or family crest, consisting of two crossed feathers within a circle (not visible in the photo above).  Kamon were a visual way to advertize your family connections during the feudal Tokugawa shogunate, when status was often determined by lineage.

-It is rather unusual to find a set of antique Japanese samurai sword fittings constructed from solid silver.  It is more common to find them made from bronze, iron or specialty alloys like shakudo or shibuichi.

-I am of the opinion that antique samurai sword fittings are egregiously undervalued in today’s antique market.  This is particularly puzzling given that Japanese culture is taking over the world via anime and manga.

-Although the seller does not mention its exact weight, this fuchi & kashira set contains a considerable amount of silver and would have been equivalent to at least 4 Bu worth of Japanese silver coins in the 1860s.

-It is shocking to me that you can buy genuine 150 year old samurai sword fittings that have been meticulously hand-crafted from solid silver for less than $300.  This fuchi & kashira set would make a superb investment for the discerning Japanese antique lover or samurai fan!

 

Cons:

-Are you kidding me?  There are no cons here, only upside.  The worst you could possibly argue is that the set would be more valuable if the kamon (family crest) could be identified.  But that seems more like a (future) pro to me, than a con.

 

Read more fascinating Antique Sage Japanese antiques spotlight posts here.

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