ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST Features Jcollector’s Hagoita

Japanese Hagoita New Year's Paddle, Yakuza

Thank you Architectural Digest for featuring one of Jcollector’s fabulous antique hagoita New Year’s paddles in your August, 2009, issue! Readers, you can view it on page 64 in the “Discoveries by Designers” section. As a result of AD’s interest, we have had a run on these wonderful items and are actively searching for others to replenish our inventory.

Traditional Japanese hagoita are wooden paddles used for a game called hanetsuki, which is similar to badminton. Each December, hagoita markets open in Japan selling these charming New Year’s gifts for girls. A market near Toyko’s Senso-ji temple in Asakusa is perhaps Japan’s oldest (founded 350 years ago during the Edo period) and most famous. It is typically held annually from December 17-19.

Japanese Hagoita New Year’s Paddle, Wisteria Maiden

Antique hagoita come in all sizes and are crafted with one side of handpainted wood (used to hit the shuttlecock) and another, even more decorative side, of finely rendered silk and other fabrics skillfully fashioned in high relief to represent well-known Kabuki theater figures. The older ones are highly valued and in great demand as wall hangings or dramatic decorative elements in any environment.

Check back often at Jcollector, as we are regularly updating our selection of antique hagoita!

It’s Lightweight! (an essential, though frequently overlooked, quality in antique Japanese tansu)

This weekend Ruben and I were helping some friends move furniture. It seemed like such a simple task – moving a bedroom set from one room to the next. We move Japanese furniture all the time, so we volunteered happily, thinking the job would be quick and effortless. After all, the two of us often lift and carry large kitchen, clothing or merchant tansu from room to room in our warehouse and assist in the offloading of our containers when they arrive from Japan, loaded with beauties for our customers. How bad could it be?

Mizuya Kitchen Tansu

Well, it turns out, VERY bad. Western furniture is HEAVY! Among the four of us, the result was a total of one strained shoulder, a twisted knee, a woeful depletion of energy and sore backs overall. Two hours later, still in a sweat while sipping iced tea, I told our friends, “You must get some antique Japanese furniture!”

Besides its obvious beauty, there is nothing like a Japanese tansu for mobility and ease of use. First, all large antique tansu, including kaidan-dansu or step tansu, are modular. They come in separate pieces, two, three, sometimes even four easily manageable sections. This was originally established in case of fire. Early Japanese homes were often fire-prone, so the owners needed to be able get their belongings out quickly and easily. Second, antique Japanese tansu almost always have a percentage of paulownia (aka, kiri), a finely grained, warp-resistant and lightweight wood. Some chests are even 100% kiri. Others might have cedar, cypress, persimmon or keyaki (aka, zelcova) accents. All, are relatively light in comparison to most other furniture, another reason there is nothing quite so wonderful as antique Japanese tansu in the modern home!

Free Shipping on All Items Extended through March

Thanks to our customers!  Our one-day free-shipping promotion has been so successful that we decided to extend free shipping on all items through March. This includes all large tansu at Jtansu and Jcollector, as well as all other items in our catalogs.

Free Shipping at Jcollector and Jtansu

ACT NOW! During the next 24-HOURS, we’re offering FREE SHIPPING on ALL FURNITURE, ART AND ANTIQUES at www.jcollector.com and www.jtansu.com.  (Offer ends Thursday, March 5, midnight.)

Running late?  On SELECT ITEMS (all non-furniture and many furniture pieces), we’ll extend FREE SHIPPING THROUGH THE MONTH OF MARCH.  Look for the green truck icon!

Need more convincing?  Check out our HUGE selection of SALE items, marked down 20-40%.  There’s no better time to buy!

Hurry to www.jcollector.com and www.jtansu.com, your online centers for quality Japanese and Asian art, antiques and furniture, to receive FREE SHIPPING anywhere within the continental USA and GREAT DISCOUNTS.

As always, we thank you for your business.  Our customers are the best!

The Japanese Kitchen

A kamado in a traditional Japanese kitchen

Jcollector offers a variety of antique and traditional Japanese kitchen furnishings, fixtures and décor.  These range from handsome kitchen chest tansu to low dining tables of simple wood or fine lacquer, hibachi, furogama, kotatsu and all manner of utilitarian as well as decorative items.

The Imperial Palace during the Heian Age (794-1185) used four rooms for accomplishing kitchen-related tasks. These were the oni no ma (the tasting and checking for poison room), daibandokoro (for placing prepared food on a diner’s serving tray/table), asagarei no ma (breakfast room) and oidono (the actual cooking room).  Sometimes, all four rooms were joined together as one building, and usually separated from the Imperial Palace as a safeguard against fire and unpleasant odors affecting the Imperial family.

Later, during the Kamakura period (1185-1333), the four rooms of the kitchen were united inside the main building and under one roof.  This architectural composition is called “Shoinzukuri.”  In early designs, the kitchen was connected to the other rooms via a corridor to the main building. Later, it combined fire and water (the stove or kamado and irori, a well and a drain) into the kitchen space in the main building (omoya).

Kitchen Tansu - Mizuya Dansu

Until the Edo period, the term daidokoro referred to the pantry and servant dining area.  It began to be used to describe the entire kitchen area during this period.  The kitchen became an important room, especially because it was the one place in the house with running water.  Also, more burners were added to the stove/kamado, and it was raised to eliminate the need to squat while cooking.

A well-to-do kitchen would feature the kitchen tansu, a dramatic and practical chest offering a variety of compartments and drawers for storage.  Its entrance would be draped by a colorful noren, a Japanese fabric divider traditionally hung between rooms, on walls, in doorways or windows.  Serving as a heater was the kotatsu, a low, wooden table frame, covered by a futon or heavy blanket to catch the warmth of the coals beneath, and upon which sat a table top.

The hibachi or fire bowl, was also introduced at this time.   Besides the larger, wood-framed Kyoto and Toyko styles, many smaller hibachi are available on Jcollector.  These were traditionally used as personal handwarmers for residents and guests, but today make dramatic jardinières and display items in the Western home.

Japanese Hibachi

You can find many examples of kitchen furnishings and wares available at both Jcollector and Jtansu.  All have stood the test of time and today add a charming sense of Japanese style, combining beauty and utility, to environments of every kind worldwide.

What’s a Ranma?

Japanese Ranma with Falcon Motif

One of Jcollector’s most popular items is the Japanese ranma. In the West, designers and homeowners have found striking ways in which to display these architectural wonders. Above or alongside doors or windows, inset to customize coffee tables or consoles, installed as dramatic structural elements, their uses are endless.

Japanese Ranma from Buddhist Temple

For over a thousand years, ranma or transom panels were used in Japan to fill the space between the top of sliding doors or partition screens and the ceiling. Introduced during the Heian Period (9th to the 12th centuries), ranma allowed light and air to pass between interior rooms when the sliding doors (shoji) or fusuma doors were closed. Ranma were used in all types of Japanese buildings.

Japanese Ranma Detail

Today, ranma not only serve the practical purpose of allowing ventilation and light into the interior of a house or temple, but are exceptional works of art. Their crafting ranges from carved three-dimensional pictorial scenes and geometric slatted designs to sublime, natural wood slices of trees. Generally, the more intricately carved and three-dimensional, the older the ranma. Ranma may have black lacquered wood frames or be bordered in a natural finish.

Japanese Ranma Detail

There are many types of transom. Bold carving helps bring out the best qualities in the wood grain of one . A wonderful balanced open-work design is achieved in another. Some feature precise bars or repeating elements, others include decorative cartouches. Many are little more than a frame, employing negative space for impact, but all represent the Japanese ideal of beauty combined with function. Besides wood, bamboo is often employed in ranma as both the material and motif.

Ranma represent wooden sculpture at it best, featuring breathtaking imagery from nature, including pine, maple, bamboo, cherry and plum trees and blossoms, as well as sea and mountain landscapes. They make a unique and eye-catching addition to any interior!

Japanese Ranma - Geometrical Motif with Cartouches

Japanese Ranma for Tearoom

Japanese Obi Make Great Holiday Gifts

Jcollector offers a wide variety of obi for wear or décor, antique, vintage and contemporary, in a multitude of colors and designs.  They make great gifts!

Although traditionally the obi has been worn as a sash, today its uses in interior design are myriad.  They may be draped over doors or windows, exhibited as wall hangings or displayed as table runners.  From wall art to pillow coverings, their uses are limited only by imagination.

A brief history suggests that the earliest obi was practical rather than ornate. During the Heian period (794-1185), the obi was a narrow sash. It held up short pants called hakama. Kimono layers were worn over the pants and obi.

Not until the Muromachi period (1392-1573) was the obi worn on the outside of the kimono. The women of the samurai class started tying the obi on the side or in front during this period. The most decorative piece of fashion at the time was a long overcoat, called the uchikake.

During the Momoyama period (1573-1615), the obi widened, and silk was used to weave it.  In addition, an obi made of braided textiles with tassels at the ends was made, but it was a short-lived fashion concept.

The traditional kimono and obi originated in the Edo period (1600-1868). The size of the obi became the traditional 11 inches wide and 142 inches long by the middle of the Edo period.  Entertainers and courtesans were the fashion mavens of the day, influencing the change to a longer more elaborately decorated obi. In the middle of the Edo period, Japanese designers began to weave and dye obi more elaborately, as they had done years before with the kimono.  Also in this period, the style of tying the obi in the back became customary.

During the Meiji period, the electric loom, chemical dyes, and industrial techniques introduced from America and Europe revolutionized the textile industry in Japan. This allowed for more obi variety.
In the present era, Japanese women have found Western dress more practical, comfortable and economical than traditional Japanese attire. The fine heirloom obi is no longer a part of modern Japanese women’s fashion, but it has found its way into Western homes and interior environments everywhere as an exceptional and versatile design accent.  Further, as fine obi become scarcer, the best become more valuable and are considered collector’s items.

For more ideas about obi use in design and décor, try Diane and Ann Wiltshire’s informative book, Design with Japanese Obi.

Jcollector, Jtansu Offer Free Shipping Through the Holidays

Hurry now to www.jcollector.com and www.jtansu.com, your online centers for Japanese and Asian art, antiques and furniture.  You’ll receive free shipping anywhere within the continental USA on all items ordered through New Year.  This includes our fine antique tansu of any size or style!

In addition, we are offering GREAT DISCOUNTS on many items in all categories. Our free shipping offer, in combination with our special sale prices, makes it possible to purchase the finest Japanese antiques and furniture at the LOWEST PRICES ever!.

Visit us now at www.jcollector.com, www.jtansu.com, where you’ll find superior quality, vast selection and now FREE SHIPPING, making online shopping for Japanese and Asian fine art and antiques a pleasure and a breeze.

As always, we thank you for your business and wish you a very HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON!

Buddhist Nio Protectors or Temple Guardians

Japanese Bronze Temple Guardian Nio Figures at Jcollector

Jcollector has recently listed a remarkable pair of bronze temple guardians or Nio protectors (literally benevolent kings).   These dynamic figures are traditionally found at the entrance of most Japanese temples.  They are said to represent motion and emotion and serve as fierce protectors wherever they stand.

The Nio, which appear in some form in most Buddhist temples, are powerful bare-chested gods, wielding heavy cudgels to ward off evil spirits. They were conceived to lurk in the shadows, striking fear into those who would challenge their might.  The Nio’s fierce and threatening countenance is said to ward off evil spirits and keep the temple grounds free of demons and thieves.  By some accounts, the Nio are even thought to have followed and safeguarded the historical Buddha when he traveled throughout India.

Enormously muscled, half-nude figures, their features are skillfully exaggerated by artists well versed in the human form. Bulging muscles in their huge chests and arms communicate power even at a great distance. This embellished realism continues in the Nio’s popping veins, extended jaws, and even in their delicate fingernails and toenails.  A guardian’s hair, pulled tightly into a topknot, adds to its imposing height.

The most famous Nio in Japan are at the entrance gate of Todaiji Temple in Nara. These 26-feet-tall statues were crafted in 1203 AD. Todaiji was built in the 8th century by imperial order in this ancient capital city, near Kyoto, as a symbol of Japan’s emergence as an important center for Buddhist culture. The complex also includes a huge bronze image of a seated Buddha, housed in the world’s largest wooden building. The Great South Gate and the Nio were erected after parts of the temple were destroyed by warring clans in the late 12th century.

Many art historians regard these two sculptures, which weigh close to seven tons each, as the greatest works of two of Japan’s most renowned sculptors, Unkei and Kaikei. They are impressive for their size and the technological hurdles that their 13th-century creators had to overcome, but, beyond that, experts say, is the emotional intensity projected by the statues, each caught in a fearsome dance, their garments and ribbons flowing in a divine breeze, as they guard the sacred temple from demons. One Nio, called Ungyo, has a closed mouth, and represents the beginning of the universe.  The other, Agyo, has an open mouth, and symbolizes the end of the universe. Other explanations for the open/closed mouth include:  Mouth open to scare off demons; closed to shelter/keep in the good spirits.  “Ah” is the first sound in the Japanese alphabet, while “N” (pronounced “un” ) is the last, so the combination symbolically represents all possible outcomes (from alpha to omega) in the cosmos.

Interestingly, the Nio may be a case of the possible transmission of the image of the Greek hero Heracles to East Asia along the Silk Road. Heracles was used in Greco-Buddhist art to represent Vajrapani, the protector of the Buddha, and his representation was then used in China and Japan to depict the protector gods of Buddhist temples. This transmission is part of the wider Greco-Buddhist phenomenon, where Buddhism interacted with the Hellenistic culture of Central Asia from the 4th century BC to the 4th century AD.

The Stone Jizo for Garden or Courtyard

Jizo Bosatsu

We at Jcollector have a particular fondness for old and weathered figures of Jizo, originally known as Bosatsu and a much beloved Buddhist figure in Japan, Korea, and China. Jizo is regarded as a special protector of children, travelers, and women and an aide to those with problems in life or physical afflictions. For anyone who has lost a child, Jizo is the image of hope and solace with qualities that include unflagging optimism, fearlessness, and gentleness. Entrusted with the task of saving the people after the death of Buddha until such a time when the second Buddha would appear, Jizo holds an important position in Buddhism and, when coming to Japan, he became a protector of the people.

Stone statues of Jizo such as those on Jcollector are found all over Japan, some in beautiful temples, some in little huts, others standing by country roadsides. They are one of the country’s most popular figures. People on religious pilgrimages or on their way to a shrine will stop to say a prayer and leave a little offering (a coin, candle, fruit, or flower) at every little Jizo they pass.

Jizo Bosatsu

Jizo is gentle and kind. In fact, Jizo-gao (Jizo-face) actually means gentle, smiling face.

When one loses valuables, wishes to know the meaning of a dream, needs to find a missing person or remedy an illness, Jizo is consulted. Because fires are frequent in the Japanese countryside, many Jizo are believed to have the power to extinguish fire and are worshipped as saviors.

Some types of Jizo include the following:

Jizo-bosatsu, who helps relieve people suffering from distress.

Migawari-Jizo, who takes the place of people. It is commonly believed this Jizo will take the place of a man in times of great difficulty, or when he is in danger of losing his life. There are many stories relating how Jizo figures were attacked in place of their worshippers. Jizo figures, which are the subject of these traditional tales, have many worshippers who believe that Jizo will save them in an emergency.

Migawari Jizo

Tauye-Jizo or rice planting Jizo is worshipped by farmers in hope that he will aid their rice-planting. Many Japanese folktales tell of Jizo giving aid to farmers in the rice-planting season.

Many stone Jizo are very old and look it. Much of their detail may be worn away and they are often smooth and appealingly weathered. They are a very popular item on Jcollector, with customers telling us how much they enjoy the presence of a Jizo in their garden our courtyard.