Art Purchase

Yesterday two of my friend's and I went to a little hole in the wall Japanese antique store. We had heard about it from another friend.

When we first walked in, I didn't think I was going to find much. We came specifically to check out the antique kokeshi doll options (since we seem to be into those more lately than the newer ones). I have a few of them that I will post about later and am always looking to see what might be available.

As we were walking around looking at things and saying "oh how cute" about a gazillion times, we started to unearth a few things. The owner didn't seem to mind if we dug through boxes or opened cabinets so we went ahead. He would tell us in Japenglish info about whatever we happened to be looking at. He had several books he would reference and it seemed like the longer we were there and the more interested we seemed, the more free flowing the information became. It was a great experience.

In the cabinet below the big kokeshi doll display there were all these handpainted little cups. Turns out they are military sake cups from WWII. I ended up with three and he gave me a sheet that tells me what the writing in them is for. I'll post about them later too.

Next to the cabinet was leaning a reproduction print from a famous artist that did pictures of kabuki actors. I have been wanting a woodblock kabuki print for some time and told myself I would get one before we left this time.

Well, I have one now. The owner told me that the print is 85 years old. The original is in a museum. The back has some information about the artist and the subject of the print. I realize that it is not an original but to have something that beautiful and old is still an awesome thing. The artist's name is Sharaku and the subject's name is Otani Oniji.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Poison/Oak Ivy