are traditional

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

ese mobile storage

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filin ...

s. are commonly used for the storage of clothing, particularly

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

. were first recorded in the Genroku era (1688–1704) of the

Edo period The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional '' daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was character ...

(1603–1867). The two characters, and , appear to have initially represented objects with separate functions: the storage of food and the carrying of firewood. Since the

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics * Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe an ...

for appears in each of these characters, it may be surmised that bamboo, and not wood, was the original material used in . As gradually became a feature of Japanese culture and daily life, both hard and softwoods were used by ( craftsmen), often in combination for a single chest. Woods commonly used in included , , , , and . are collectable, and many collectors focus on finding genuine antique . There are just a few workshops who produce in imitation of the classic

antique An antique ( la, antiquus; 'old', 'ancient') is an item perceived as having value because of its aesthetic or historical significance, and often defined as at least 100 years old (or some other limit), although the term is often used loosely ...

s, due to the high cost of materials and the very low prices of second-hand . Larger chests are sometimes reduced in size, particularly futon chests, step chests and other chests with deep drawers. Some reproduction have been made in Korea using elm veneer.

Historical context

were rarely used as stationary furniture. Consistent with traditional Japanese interior design, which featured a number of movable partitions, allowing for the creation of larger and smaller rooms within the home, would need to be easily portable, and were not visible in the home except at certain times for specific situations. were typically kept in (storehouses) adjacent to homes or businesses, in (storage rooms), in (house closet alcoves), and on (a raised platform area of a shop). would also be kept on some (coastal ships). Mobility was obtained through the use of attached wheels, iron carry handles or protruding structural upper rails for lifting. Because the

was feudal in its socio-economic structure, rules concerning the ownership of goods dominated all classes, from peasant to

samurai were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They ...

. Travelling was regulated and conspicuous consumption discouraged through

sumptuary law Sumptuary laws (from Latin ''sūmptuāriae lēgēs'') are laws that try to regulate consumption. ''Black's Law Dictionary'' defines them as "Laws made for the purpose of restraining luxury or extravagance, particularly against inordinate expendi ...

s. from this time primarily reflect the class and occupation of the owner rather than any regionally inspired originality. With the coming of the

Meiji Restoration The , referred to at the time as the , and also known as the Meiji Renovation, Revolution, Regeneration, Reform, or Renewal, was a political event that restored practical imperial rule to Japan in 1868 under Emperor Meiji. Although there were ...

of imperial authority in 1868, and the gradual disintegration of the rigid class structure, distinctive regional characteristics in construction and design began to flourish.

Types

Edo period – class-determined

During the

(1603–1867), the type of a person owned and used was largely determined by social class.

Meiji period – regional diversification

During the

Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...

(1868–1911), the design of developed further, seeing more regional diversification following the abolition of the feudal class system in Japan.

Other types

were used by the captain or owner of small coastal trading vessels licensed by the feudal

shogunate , officially , was the title of the military dictators of Japan during most of the period spanning from 1185 to 1868. Nominally appointed by the Emperor, shoguns were usually the de facto rulers of the country, though during part of the Kamakura ...

to transport rice. These vessels would travel from the bountiful but remote countryside to the teeming cities on the route between

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

and

Hokkaido is Japan, Japan's Japanese archipelago, second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost Prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own List of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; th ...

through the Inland Sea and up the Japan Sea coast. With the enforced closure of the country in 1633 and a prohibition against the construction of ships with a keel, more than two masts and a cargo capacity exceeding (2,550 bushels of rice) in 1636, the inadvertently crippled the transport of rice grown on Japanese lands, resulting in shortages and even riots in some urban areas. The problem was largely alleviated through reforms of the coastal navigation infrastructure and regulations suggested by Kawamura Zuiken in 1670. Among his implemented recommendations was the designation of reliable sea transporters of government rice as (merchants representing the interests of the shogunate). As well, he convinced the authorities to allow properly designated vessels to trade for their own account at coastal towns en route. Though most certainly an inducement to shipping traders, there was a physical constraint that stood in the way of predictable success. The ships, though impressive in construction, were usually under in length, with a scant crew of eleven or less. Coastal townspeople were not always impressed when these mariners arrived. There is evidence that from the Kyōhō era of Edo (1716–1735), specific designs of elaborate cabinetry began to be used on the route. Well into the

, when a (1,000 ship) would arrive at a coastal town for trading, the crew would ceremoniously off load the captain/owner's personal tansu to be then positioned strategically at the place where negotiations would be held, thus lending a calculated air of affluence and respectability to the visitor's aura. evolved into three categories of design: * : A seals and money chest with a single hinged door often covered by intricate iron plating, with multiple interior drawers or door covered compartments. * : A clothing chest with a single drop-fit door. Often made as a set of two identical chests, designed so one could be placed on top of the other, then locked together. * : A chest for accounting and writing related materials. Often rendered in many different configurations, some of which included the following features: ** : A drop-fit door cut into the case, used to hide a money box. ** : A small swinging door in the lower-right corner. ** : Double doors with half-faced hinges on the lower half of the box. ** : One or two drawers, exposed to the exterior. ** : Removable double sliding doors, running the full width of the box, appearing on the top third or middle third of the box. ** : Removable single sliding door in the lower half of the box, in the lower-left. Typically appeared with a . that were intended for shipboard use were always constructed of for all exterior exposures, with Paulownia wood for interior compartments and drawer or box linings.

Types of hardware

Although decorative to the contemporary eye, hardware remained largely functional through the

. Because the joinery of cases was simple and thus flexible to facilitate structural integrity during movement from place to place, hardware placement at vulnerable points was consistent with the need for reliability. Until the introduction of iron plate pressing from England in the 1880s, all iron for hardware was forged. With the introduction of Western technology, hardware could now be easily made more decorative, with creative embellishments as well as functional ones. * : Edge hardware, lining the edges and corners of a . * : "Sash hardware" which spans a face of the , such as the top, or the face of a cabinet door. * : Drawer or drawer-corner hardware, appearing at the corners of drawer faces. Generally these match their associated edge hardware. * : A carrying handle, generally a loop appearing on the side near the top. * : A different type of carrying loop, usually sliding, which was designed to hold a pole when used with its mate on the other side. * : Lock jamb plate * : Sliding-door lock * : Vertical locking bar * :

Drawer pull A drawer pull (wire pull or simply pull) is a handle to pull a drawer out of a chest of drawers, cabinet or other furniture piece. A drawer pull often includes a plate to which the handle is fastened. The handle may swing from one or two mou ...

* : An "escutcheon", or flange, surrounding the contact point of a drawer pull. * : Back plate for a drawer pull * : Hinge * : Staple affixing hardware to the wood * : A single-action lock using a split spring for activation. For unlocking only. * : A double-action lock mechanism of foreign origin dating from the 1860s.

Finishes

finishes fall into two categories: dry and lacquered. For a dry finish, clay or chalk powder was rubbed into the soft wood surface (Paulownia, ''

Cryptomeria ''Cryptomeria'' (literally "hidden parts") is a monotypic genus of conifer in the cypress family Cupressaceae, formerly belonging to the family Taxodiaceae. It includes only one species, ''Cryptomeria japonica'' ( syn. ''Cupressus japonica'' ...

'' or cypress) then burnished with an '' Eulalia'' root whisk. For lacquer ('' Rhus verniciflua''), application could be only for sealing the plain wood to enhance a natural visible grain or for the creation of a perfect opaque surface.

References

External links

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