As of yet, I have neglected writing about tansu that contain a specific traditional feature, the Bo (locking bar). This has not been due to my lack of interest in this particular feature, more just waiting for a piece that contains multiple aspects that I find worthy of discussing. Well, I finally found one with this stacking clothes chest.  Traditionally, brides took their personal tansu to the new husband’s family home, and I think that’s what we are looking at here.

The bo dansu is one of the oldest styles of tansu, probably due to the fact that it required the least amount of kanagu (hardware) to secure everything. Now in my uneducated opinion, I believe the seller of this piece is right in stating that it is from Yamagata Prefecture. One telltale feature is the warabite handles and the keyaki (zelkova) drawer fronts. I think this would be from around the mid to late Meiji era, because in earlier pieces, the handles were set against single small zagane (escutcheons) rather than full toshi-zagane (backplates) which this piece has. Furthermore, I think we can pinpoint the region of manufacture to the Shonai plain due to the style of the obikanagu (sash hardware) that are on the bo. Obikanagu were more than just decoration, they also added strength to the locking bar as well as help keep the wood from warping. Cool, huh? Well I could go on forever about hardware or how maybe thats bengara stain under the laquer on the sash hardware etc… Let’s just look at the pretty pictures instead.

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Hisashiburi ne! It’s been a while hasn’t it. Got a job as a cabinetmaker again, I guess I just can’t keep away from wood. But, it’s been keeping me away from this site, so it’s time to rectify that.

I couldn’t help but show you this kyodai that’s up for auction, since I previously posted an earlier style here with a more complete description. As you can see, this piece has the later square western style mirror as well as the highly figured wood. These began to be used in kyodai pieces after Sakoku, Japan’s exclusionary acts, were forcibly lifted in 1853 by Commodore Perry’s gunboat diplomacy. The listing states that this is made with keyaki (elm), but I think it looks more like kuwa (mulberry). Also, listed as 19th century, but it could be as late as early 20th. Handles look like they have been replaced with more modern hardware. Cool, none the less.

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There are alot of nice tansu up for auction right now, so I might be posting alot about the ones that I find interesting. Here is one of them, a cha dansu from the Taisho era.

What I like about cha dansu is that some of them have chigai dana (staggered shelves), which I aesthetically love. As a big fan of architecture, I really like the Tokonoma (literally meaning bed-space), a distinct display area that evolved as an aspect of Shoin style architecture during the Muromachi period. The one side of the tokonoma held a hanging scroll and maybe some ikebana (flower arrangement), while the other side consisted of some storage space with built in cabinets and also some chigai dana. Cha dansu borrowed the chigai dana as a way to display some of the tea ceremony materials during the late Edo era.

This piece is constructed with keyaki, sugi, and hinoki, with two sets of hiki-do (sliding doors) and one kendan buta (drop fit door), fairly typical of the style. Another familiar trait is the lack of lockplates. This type of furniture was used during the offering of tea, which was a normal everyday hospitality for guests. If you had a little money, you might possess a cha dansu to add a little class to this polite exchange. What a nice way to display and store all your tea utensils.

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For some reason I just love funa dansu, maybe its because my family had boats during my formative years, leaving me with an inherent penchant for all things nautical (might explain why I live on an island in the middle of the Pacific). Whatever it is, this piece just screams at me. One of the 12 typical variations of cho-baku funa dansu that arose during the Meiji era, this piece has everything you want. Ample hardware (the extra plating originally was used to help secure the sashimono (joinery) because the glue used at the time was unreliable, especially in an aquarian environment, but later was used more as a theft deterant), as well as having a Kendon-buta (drop-fit door)
hiding a Keyaki strong box with a Kiri document box inside (although Paulownia was used typically for these interior boxes, so maybe it’s mis-identified). With Kakute (square hand) style external handles and the single Hirute (leech hand) handle on the interior drawer, hidden by the drop-fit door, as well as all the keys for the exterior drawers (minus the one for the interior drawer), this piece is just amazing. And the price is equally so, listed at $16,800.00, this tansu could be in a museum, or better yet, my apartment (I wish).

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