Antique Japanese Sagemono Netsuke
Ashinaga Kiseruzutsu
Nine Cranes Bamboo Bronze Kiseru
Mix Metal Ojimi
Signed: Issai, Circa: 19th Century
Recorded: The Netsuke Handbook by Ueda Reikichi #352
H.8 in.(20cm), W.1 in.(2.5cm), D.1 in.(2.5cm)
Condition: missing one horn inlay, o.a. good!

This beautifully aged authentic 19th century carved wood kiseruzutsu was a popular form of functional netsuke during the late Edo and Meiji period. Its lustrous smooth surface shows the mark of years of usage. The tsutsu is depicting the celebrated motif of a wild and rustic Ashinaga, the long legged mythical South-Sea islander, yawning with mouth wide opened, arms and legs stretched above a wood stump, in an ingenious design that transforming the figure into the holder of a long stem bamboo pipe, inserted into two separate bronze fittings that featuring nine cranes in relief, with the signature “Issai” signed on a rectangular silver reserve over an original bronze lima bean ojimi, where a copper plated tiny bee is found landed on the opposite side.

Private Collection