Here we have another fine example of Nihonmatsu region cabinetmaking. I won’t go into so much detail, as I previously described the style here in a previous post. I just want to point out the things that I find interesting with this piece that I haven’t seen before.

The coolest attribute that this piece has are the brass butterfly sliding keyhole covers. The butterflies and the various positions they are placed in lend and amazing lightness to the piece. Depending on the position the covers are left in, it almost seems as if there are butterflies flitting all across the tansu. The contrasting brass color helps them to stand out, creating an amazing visual element, enticing the eye to wander across the piece. I especially like the way the butterfly actually cantilevers over the edge of the jomae (lockplate) on the safe door. Totemo sugoi, ne! The lockplates also have nice depictions of cherry blossoms, bamboo, and pine boughs.

I also would like to point out the butterfly protective plates for the warabite handles and how they are unusually canted to either side, furthering the floating effect. This has got to be one of the most aesthetically enticing pieces I’ve ever come across. Click on one of the pictures to go to the listing for more images, you won’t regret it.

I saw this tansu on eBay and wanted to talk about it due to the fact that it depicts another regional style perfectly. Tansu production came late to Nihonmatsu (literally, two pine trees) and the area was primarily active in the mid-Meiji era. But what they lacked for in timing, they made up with uniqueness, as they were basically uninfluenced in design by their tansu producing neighbors, Yonezawa, Sendai, and Niigata.

Nihonmatsu tansu are some of the largest clothing chests made, with a typical size of over 43 inches wide and heights sometimes over 47 inches. Always a chest on chest design with the primary woods being Sugi (Japanese Cedar) for the carcass and Keyaki (Japanese Elm) for the drawer faces (this example listed the drawers as being Matsu (pine)). These chests typically had Warabite (bracken hand) type handles with intricate incised toshi-zagane (backplates), this depicted piece also has Sakura (cherry blossom) and Matsu protective plates (I don’t know the Japanese name for this type of handle protective plates, so if any of you out there do, please contact me).

Another distinctive characteristic of the Nihonmatsu tansu was the unique jomae (lockplate) with double kikuza-tegakejo (floriate button) latches as depicted here. One button was a sliding latch (karajo), and the other was a single action lock (omotejo) requiring a key, and could be used separately. This example shows a typical Nihonmatsu sliding lock cover of brass depicting the lucky Daikoku’s mallet (Daikoku is a god that is associated with wealth and agriculture) as well as some brass depictions of koi and a money bag at the center.

Tansu from this region had two types of finishes (nuri). Kijiro, which was a laborious process of multiple layers of clear lacquer (urushi) and polishings over a natural or stained-wood surface (depicted here), or Tame nuri which was an opaque lacquer which would hide the open grained wood and was equally laborious to apply.

One last unique attribute to Nihonmatsu tansu was the atypical use of the carcass wood for the interior drawer faces in the door compartment, as opposed to the usual consistent use of the same wood for all the drawer faces (hidden or not) found on all other types of tansu.