The koban was an oblong striated coin which often appeared stamped with Japanese characters and paulownia seals. The gold koban was the highest value coin in circulation in Japan, where it was minted and used throughout the Edo period (1603- 1868). The koban design motif is symbolic of good fortune and wealth.

Yasokichi III is famed for his mastery of Kutani glazes, and the astonishing depth and color he has achieved with this vase are an excellent example of that skill. His works are mostly done in simple forms which do not compete with the spectacular colors and graduated glazes which so thoroughly dominate his ceramic art. Pieces made by this highly sought Japanese artist are consistently displayed at national and international exhibitions, and they are well represented in many museum and private collections as well.

Born Tokuda Masahiko in Komatsu, Japan, he started potting at the age of 18. He studied Kutani glazing with his grandfather, the first Yasokichi (1873-1957) and modern pottery with his father, Yasokichi II (1907-1997). Tokuda graduated from Kanazawa College of Art and won the NHK Chairman's Prize with his first entry in the Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition in 1971. He won the highest award at the Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition: the Japan Crafts Association's Chairman's Prize in 1977, the Hokkoku Shimbun Cultural Award in 1985, and the Japan Pottery Association Prize in 1986, when he was also designated an Intangible Cultural Asset of Ishikawa's kutani-yaki pottery. In 1988, he took the potter’s name Yasokichi. He won the Chichibunomiya Cup, the most prestigious prize at the Japan Pottery Exhibition in 1991. He was designated Important Intangible Cultural Asset (Living National Treasure) in 1997.

Fancy kugikakushi such as these were usually decorated with various important or auspicious motifs. The petals of the karahana create flower diamonds, a popular motif known as “hanabishi.” The diamond category was one of the most popular of Japanese heraldic motifs. Alongside the diamond, one of the earliest known textile patterns in Japan was the “karahana” or “China flower,” and the natural melding of the two produced the four-petaled “flower diamond.” The alternative name of this motif, “karahanabishi,” makes the combination explicit.

Kugikakushi came into widespread use in the 16th and 17th centuries. They were used to provide a decorative metal covering for the joints of the huge beams and posts of shrines and temples and also in the grand castles that were constructed for various daimyo (feudal lords). Decorative nail head covers were usually cast in metal from molds, and the surface was then finished in varying techniques. So many metal alloys were used that it is difficult to determine the base metal of most kugikakushi. Some of the decorative methods include engraving the design on the mold, which creates an embossed pattern on the metal; openwork; chiseling or engraving on the finished object; plating; lacquering and enameling. Decorative motifs for many centuries played a prominent role in both the religious and daily lives of the Japanese people. Architecture was embellished with these symbols, which were representative of both the tangibles of nature and the intangibles of the spirit. Birds, bats, turtles, bamboo and family crests were some of the popular subjects for nail head covers. (See examples of kugikakushi on page 181 of “Japanese Antiques” by Patricia Salmon.)

Japanese metalwork was a sophisticated and complex craft, and the metal artist was highly esteemed. When swords were banned in 1871 by government edict, many metal craftsmen were forced into new outlets, and so the minor metal arts flourished, with one example being kugikakushi. These unusual decorative nail head covers are interesting and lovely examples of early Japanese metalwork which are sure to be conversation pieces.

During a Shinto style wedding, the marriage is consecrated in the ritual of “san-san kudo,” where the bride and groom each drink from three sake cups three times. The families of the bride and groom would bring large containers of sake to the wedding ceremony in these black lacquered boxes. This style of lacquered wooded sake container, which is rectangular in shape with inset ends is called a sleeve cask because its shape is reminiscent of a Japanese kimono sleeve. Although sodedaru were originally made for ceremonial use by the higher classes, by the middle of the 19th century these rugged lacquer utensils were made for use by everyone.

The relief casting on this kettle is superb. The background design is composed of alternating panels. On the front and back, ancient Chinese seal script characters fill each side, overlapped by alternating panels with the purely Japanese design of “hanabishi,” a popular motif in which the petals of the “karahana” (China flower) create four-petal flower diamonds. There is a wavy relief cast border separating the four panels. Cast in higher relief atop the seal script characters are two large freely-rendered auspicious Kanji characters for the word “fuku” which means happiness or good fortune. The heavy cast bronze lid is topped with “tachibana” (mandarin orange) flower bud finial.

Tetsubin are cast iron water kettles which were popular in Japan as everyday household utensils and for informal and semi-formal tea drinking. During the 19th century, tetsubin made especially as tea utensils came to be highly esteemed. Fine ornamental tetsubin were preferred by the upper classes for the sencha style tea ceremony, which was less formal and proscribed than the “chanoyu” tea ceremony.

During the 18th century, a craze had developed in Japan for bunjin, the art and culture of the Chinese literati scholar/painter. One of their daily customs was the drinking of sencha. This custom was adopted by the growing class of Japanese Confucian scholars. The artistic situation in Kyoto around 1800 was influenced by the activities of these Japanese literati, and the sencha cult became one of their favorite pastimes. The interest in sencha soon spread from the bunjin-enthusiasts to the common people in Kyoto, especially to the rich merchants.

It was in the first decades of the 19th century that relief decoration on iron kettles first came into demand. Relief designs required the lost-wax technique of casting that was practiced by bronze-casters. It was within this cultural and artistic environment that the metal-caster Shikata Yasunosuke was making tetsubin in Kyoto. He had adopted the name of his father as his artist name and called himself Ryubundo. By using the lost-wax method, he was able to make relief decorated tea utensils in the style of the bunjin, which specifically suited the tastes of the sencha enthusiasts at that time. (For a more detailed history, see TETSUBIN by P.L.W. Arts.) This is a truly unique example of a Japanese tetsubin in Chinese taste, and it exemplifies an important historical link in the initial development of relief cast tea ceremony utensils in Japan. It would make a wonderful addition to any tetsubin collection.