Catalog: Archives (589)

A male peacock struts proudly before a gorgeous plume of color on this mid 20th century hand painted screen signed and stamped Yushin. The colors are slightly muted, in a typical Japanese way, the background awash in mottled silver-gray, presenting the brilliant greens and blues of the birds fabulous attraction. It is bordered in a wooden frame covered in Negoro lacquer, unusual green over red, matching the painting perfectly. Each panel measures 32 inches by five feet (82 x 152.5 cm) and is in excellent condition, even retaining the original backing cloth.

An oil on canvas by Ono Sue titled “Inaka no Kyokai, Paris” or Rustic Church in Paris set into a double wood frame. The canvas is 15-1/2 x 18 inches (40 x 45 cm), the frame 24 x 27 inches (61 x 69 cm) and all is in excellent condition.
Ono Sue (1910-1985) was born in Niigata prefecture, and after serving as a school teacher for one year, moved to Kyoto in 1934 to pursue a career in oil painting under Yasui Sotaro. He began exhibiting with the Issuikai in 1938, garnering a number of awards there over the next 15 years starting with the Issui-kai Prize in 1943. In 1955 he would go on the first of his travels, returning in 1958, and in 1959 he would help to found the Kokusai Gushoha Kyokai. The next year would find him abroad again for an extended journey. He travelled extensively, documenting his travels in oil and canvas, Egypt, Mexico, Europe, South East Asia, all of these would become subjects for his method. In 1963 he returned to Japan. He was purchased by the Imperial Household Agency that same year. He would be honored with several exhibitions in major Japanese museums, including the Tokyo Central Museum, Umeda Museum of Modern Art, and his home of Niigata with the Niigata Art Museum. In 1982 he would receive the Geijutsu Sensho Award for the arts from the Minister of Cultural Affairs. Work by him is held in the Museum of Modern Art in Niigata, Museum of Modern Art in Toyama, Okawa Museum, Sakuma Municipal Museum of Modern Art and Kita-Kyushu Municipal Museum of Art among others.

A gorgeous female Bunraku doll with mobile head and hands in the original wooden box. She is 30 inches long from hemline to hair ornament. She has a very adult looking face and extremely ornate hair dress. The kimono is of silk with a shibori obi. This doll likely dates to the 1960s or early 1970s. A rare find for the collector of Bunraku items and Japanese dolls.

A lovely hollowed out root forming a basket; an anonymous 20th century work of Mingei art. It is roughly 18 x 13 x 10 inches (45 x 33 x 25 cm) and in fine condition.

An extremely fine bronze Koro in the form of a mythical Kirin by Living National Treasure Katori Masahiko (1899-1988). Masahiko, a graduate of Tokyo National University of Art, went on to an illustrious career. Unlike his colleagues, he produced very limited numbers of his pieces, often only one. As this piece is not numbered, I believe it also is a one of a kind. It has a rich, green patina that lends age to the work, actually most likely no more than 30 years old. It is 8 inches (20cm) long by 7 inches (18cm) tall. Price includes shipping.

White Robed Kannon by Zen Wako (also Chon Fua Fan/Chow Wha Whang), Oil on panel, 22 x 27,5 cm (9 x 11 inches) in the original frame.
Zen Wako was born in Pyongan (modern day North Korea) in 1909, while that country was under Japanese Influence, and one year before it was officially annexed by Japan. He was first recognized in 1929 when his work was accepted into the Korean national Art Exhibition. In 1933 he came under the influence of Nishida Tenko (1872-1968), a spiritual figure in Japan who founded the Ittoen (Garden of One Light) Society. He began studies under Suda Kunitaro in 1945, and came to exhibit with the Kohdo Art Organization, taking top prize there in 1948. He would help to establish an art organization for Korean peoples living in Japan (Zai Nichi Chossen Bijutsukai) in 1953, and would serve as head of the Kansai area branch. His work would be exhibited in Europe, Japan and Korea. It currently is held in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Gwangju Museum of Art, and a Painting of Kannon in the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. He died in 1994. Unfortunately, due to the lack of consensus on how to spell Korean names in English, his name can be written Chon Fua Fan or Chow Wha Whang or any combination thereof.

A furosaki tea room screen made of a very large hanga woodblock print in the fashion of Inui Tai mounted within a simple wooden frame and stamped in the lower left corner. An intriguing work, village roofs are visible over a sea of rice containing all manner of small country scenes. A cat glares at two frogs, boys pluck small fish from irrigation ditches, uniformed students ride on their way to school, a farmer carefully cares for his plants… The screen is entirely black and white, accentuating its primitive charm. Each panel is 16 by 35 inches (41.5 x 88.5 cm). The screen is backed in red patterned paper, with one scratch in the back, the front in perfect condition but for a shadow in the white paper reflecting the cloth from long exposure (see pictures).

A dramatic pair of large trays　decorated with silver characters for sun and moon on dynamic black and red surfaces. Each comes in the original wooden box made by craftsmen at the Yabashi Studio in Gifu prefecture. They are 47 cm square and in fine condition.

The character Kotobuki followed by a playful verse crying Watashiya kyujukyu made (Longevity, I live to 99). Ink on paper enclosed in a subtle cloth border befitting Zen art. It is stamped Taishitsu (his art name) and enclosed in the original signed wooden box with the same inscription on the lid. The scroll measures 10 by 73 inches (26.5 x 185 cm). There is some cupping in the scroll, otherwise in fine condition. Mumon (1900-1988) studied law in his youth, but was converted to the life of Buddhism by a statement of Confucian theory which says, rather than become a lawyer, create a world where there is no need for courts. After taking the tonsure, he initially studied under Kawaguchi Ekai, the first Japanese Zen priest to visit Tibet. However after several years in isolation battling tuberculosis, he emerged to receive his certificate of enlightenment from Seisetsu Genjo, and went on to head a number of prominent Zen temples. Later in life Mumon traveled the world, working hard to spread to light of Rinzai Zen.

White cranes soar from the black water of a lake tucked in the shadow of orange hills on this lovely mid 20th century scroll enclosed in the original signed and stamped wooden box by Takazaki Ko (b. 1910). Extremely delicate yellow trees reflect off the dark surface of the lake, contrasting with the thick ranks of orange marching up the hillside. Painted in the audacious style of Banka, the painting retains a quiet charm in the singular movement of the graceful birds. It measures 19-1/4 by 78-1/2 inches (49 x 199 cm) and is in excellent condition. Oki apprenticed twice, both under Nakamura gakuryo (1890-1969) and Maeda Seison

An anonymous basket of both red and white soot-stained bamboo (susu-dake) with a root-wood handle, the various textures and colors gleaming with sheer elegance. It is 18 inches (45 cm) tall and in excellent condition, containing a black lacquered bamboo otoshi container lined with copper.

A beautiful Suiseki mounted on rich red carved wood base enclosed in a custom made kiri-wood display box. There is a sublime balance between the ragged peaks and deep clefts in the stone, and excellent example of the Renzan (Range) type of stone. The stone is 37 x 10 x 12 cm (15 x 4 x 5 inches) and is in excellent condition. There is one very small nick in the wooden base (1/8th of an inch or 3 mm in size). Together the stone and box weight 3.5 kilograms (roughly 8 pounds). The chip in the wooden base will be filled before shipping unless otherwise preferred.

A serene image of the Goddess of Mercy Kannon found in a natural black stone from the Seta River inset into a hand carved hard-wood base and enclosed in a kiri-wood collectors box titled simply Setagawa-ishi (Seta River Stone). 19.5 cm (7-3/4 inches) tall and in excellent condition.

A published set of 10 Zen Scrolls by Jikihara Gyokusei and Shibayama Zenkei showing the 10 stages of enlightenment through the parable of the bull and the ox-herd. Ink on paper in blue silk border with wood rollers. Each scroll measures 44 x 188.5 cm and all are in fine condition but for a few tiny holes in the top of one border (see close-up). The scrolls were photographed in the order taken from the box, and are not necessarily in the correct order in the composite photos. This set of scrolls is the subject of the 1974 book Zen Oxherding Pictures by Zenkei and Gyokusei, and each is published in the text followed by a discussion of the imagery, in both English and Japanese.
The Ten Ox Herding Pictures are inspired from the Chinese Zen Master Kuan Shiyuan in the 12th century to illustrate the stages of enlightenment in Mahayana Buddhism as illustrated in the original Avatamsaka Sutra. The pictures tell the story of an Ox herder (an ordinary person) who must go in search of his lost charge (the true self, the Buddha Nature). Wandering through the wilderness he searches until finally finding its tracks, he follows, captures, then must tame the beast through discipline. Following is realization and the two become one and return home. Then transcend their own self-imposed boundaries and perceptions. All is overcome and the practitioner reaches enlightenment and can return to society where his image inspires others.
A similar pair by Gyokusei reside in the Zen Mountain Monastery of New York. Zenkei and Gyokusei also co-authored a book on the Zen Oxherding pictures in 1967. Another thing special about these is they show the friendship between Zenkei and Gyokusei, and it is through the chance meeting of Zenkei and Michael Hoffman, the prominent American ink painter, at the Zen center in Los Angeles, that Zenkei introduced him to Gyokusei, who would become Michaels life-long Mentor.
Shibayama Zenkei (1894¡ª1974), a former Abbot of Nanzenji and was a Rinzai master well-known for his commentary on the Mumonkan. One of his better-known students is Fukushima Keido former abbot of Tofukuji. Shibayama also taught at Otani University and was the head abbot of the entire Nanzenji Organization, overseeing the administration of over five hundred temples. Due to a number of lecture tours he undertook to the United States in the 1960s, and the translation of several of his books into English, Shibayama was a significant contributor to the establishment of Zen in America
Jikihara Gyokusei (1904-2005) was born in Okayama prefecture, and graduated the Osaka Municipal School of Art where he had studied under Yano Kyoson. He was accepted into the Nanga-In TenNational Nanga Exhibition in 1930. Subsequently his fame as an artist grew, exhibiting at the Teiten and subsequent Nitten National Exhibitions as well, however his yearning for something more grew as well.¡¹In 1956 he entered Nanzenji to study under Shibayama and a lifelong friendship was born. As an artist he received many awards throughout his career and was honored with the Hyogo Prefectural Cultural Citation. He also became the head of his own Zen Temple and helped to further the teaching of Zen in Japan and in America.

Sculptured black pines rise from the misty forest floor, yellow sky fading beyond; a brilliant modernist rendition of this traditional theme by Yamauchi Issei (b. 1929). The entire scene is performed with colored paper, applied directly or wetted and applied as pulp. Fantastical shapes seem to dance across the two panel canvas. Gold strips applied in the upper branches are sunlight’s last rays reflecting off the needles, the yellow sky implicating late summer dusk. Saved from the harshness of day, the forest floor is cool, and gray waves seem to lap at the shore beyond. The screen features a rare shunkei-nuri red lacquer wooden frame, and is backed with handmade paper. It is 61 by 61 inches open (155 x 155 cm), and in fine condition. The paper artist Issei works from his studio in Aichi prefecture, his works have been presented at any number of exhibitions, both domestically and nationally, including the Nitten.

A Chawan tea bowl by Goho with calligraphy work by Yamada Mumon enclosed in the original signed wooden box. The calligraphy reads Mi-Do, The Way of Taste, followed by Mumons artistic signature (Ka-o). The bowl is 4-1/2 inches (11 cm) diameter, 3 inches (8 cm) tall and in perfect condition. Mumon (1900-1988) studied law in his youth, but was converted to the life of Buddhism by a statement of Confucian theory which says, rather than become a lawyer, create a world where there is no need for courts. After taking the tonsure, he initially studied under Kawaguchi Ekai, the first Japanese Zen priest to visit Tibet. However after several years in isolation battling tuberculosis, he emerged to receive his certificate of enlightenment from Seisetsu Genjo, and went on to head a number of prominent Zen temples. Later in life Mumon traveled the world, working hard to spread to light of Rinzai Zen.

A fabulous Koro covered in damascened gold by Ibuse Keisuke enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Nunome Zogan Jungin Koro (Damascene Pure Silver Incense Burner). It is 11 cm (4-1/2 inches) tall, 9.5 cm (3-3/4 inches) diameter and in excellent condition.
Ibuse Keisuke was born in Tokyo in 1930, and began his studies of metal arts in 1950 under Unno Takeo. By the late fifties he was exhibiting with the Kofukai (where he would later be awarded) as well as the Nitten National Art Exhibition, and in the early sixties would begin exhibiting at the Gendai Kogeiten Modern Crafts Exhibition. In 1974 he would be awarded at the Dento Kogei Shinsaku Ten (New Traditional Crafts Exhibition), and in ’76 at the Dento Kogei Musashino Ten, followed by awards at the Dento Kogei Kinko Shinsaku Ten and Dento Kogei Ten with his work being collected by the Imperial Household Agency in 1981. The following years Hiroshima Prefectural Museum, Fukuyama Museum as well as again The Imperial Household Agency would purchase pieces for their permanent collections.

A superb bronze vase with silver plate design enclosed in the original wooden box and stamped on the base by the artsit. The vessel is 11-1/2 inches (30 cm) tall and in excellent condition