[back]

"To the men and women of the craftsmen’s Guild – hands and hearts keeping tradition" 
(Ty & Kiyoko Heineken)

A Japanese auction

Japanese Historical Chronology Nara period 646-794 Heian period 794-1185 Kamakura period 1185-1336 Muromachi period 1336-1568 Momoyama period 1568-1603 Edo period 1603-1868      Early 1603-1691      Middle 1691-1780      Late 1780-1868 Meiji era 1868-1912      Early 1868-1883      Middle 1883-1898      Late 1898-1912 Taisho era 1912-1926 Showa era 1926

Mizuya 217002 - Kyoto - mid meyi era

Our refined Japanese collection is characterised by simplicity, plain and taut lines, originality and a remarkable functionality.

Asian Loft offers a wide selection of dansu (chest) of which the most common ones are mizuya dansu (kitchen chest), cho dansu (kimono chest), kusuri dansu (medicine chest), juna dansu (seachest), kaidan dansu (stepchest), kuruma dansu (wheelchest) and nagamochi (trunks).

Asian Loft also has a big selection of smaller furniture such as naga-hibachi (hibachi), kotatsu tagura (kotatsu-stand), zeni-bako (money box), hari-bako (sewing chest), tabako-bon (tabacco box), kyodai (vanity), ranma (decoration panels) etc.

Most of the Japanese furniture is bought at auction or in the countryside and restored by our own highly skilled craftsmen.

Japanese jargon

 Tansu

 wooden cabinet (dansu, plural)

 Isho-tansu

chest with drawers for clothing storage

 Mizuya-dansu

a two piece cabinet for kitchen storage to store small items. Two chest with sliding doors layered on top of each other form a Mizuya-dansu

 Kusuri-dansu (medicine chest)

chest for medicinal storage with many small drawers used for herbs and spices

Futon-tansu  

 chest to accommodate bedding and clothing storage. Usually tall and deep to fit the futons (bedding mattresses)

Cho-dansu (merchant chest)

a tansu for commercial use, convenient with drawers and sometimes one or two sliding doors.

Sho-dansu

 a piece of furniture used for storing tools and books

 Choba-dansu

 a piece used to accommodate books and ledgers

 Kuruma-dansu (wheelchest)

 a Japanese chest on wheels, mainly for transportation

 Kaidan-dansu (stairchest)

 a piece of furniture in the form of a staircase, used as a connection between two levels of a house

 Han-dansu (halfchest)

 chest which is very long and low

 Sendai-dansu (Kimono dansu)

 used to store kimono and clothing and are characterised by one long top drawer, with three slightly smaller drawers underneath and usually a lockable door containing two smaller drawers

 Zeni-bako (cash/money box)

 (sewing box) tansu is a small all purpose Japanese chest with a variety of drawers to hold a host of small items.