KAJIKAWA AND MASAYOSHI: GOLD LACQUER SEVEN-CASE INRO

KAJIKAWA AND MASAYOSHI: A SUPERB AND VERY RARE GOLD LACQUER AND METAL-INLAID SEVEN-CASE INRO DEPICTING THE KACHI-KACHI YAMA STORY
By a member of the Kajikawa family (for the lacquerwork) and by Ishiguro Masayoshi (for the metalwork), signed Kajikawa 梶川 saku 作 with red 'tsubo' seal Ei 榮 and Masayoshi 政美 with kakihan
Japan, 19th century, Edo period (1615-1868)

Published: Eskenazi (1984) Japanese Netsuke, Ojime, Inro, Lacquer-ware, pp. 54-55, no. 114.

The seven-case inro of upright form with rounded edges, featuring a gold kinji and mura nashiji ground, beautifully lacquered in gold and silver takamaki-e and hiramaki-e, as well as masterfully inlaid in shakudo, silver, and gold, depicting the Kachi-Kachi yama legend. The front shows the rabbit standing triumphantly towards the prow of his metal-lined boat, raising its oar about to striking down the tanuki, who clings on to the barge of his mud-boat, which is inlaid in pewter. The reverse with the full moon inlaid in silver, rising above the turbulent sea and the interior of rich gyobu; signed for the lacquer KAJIKAWA saku with a red 'tsubo' (pot) seal Ei and for the metalwork, MASAYOHI with a kakihan within a rectangular gold reserve. With a black horn ojime.

HEIGHT 8.8 cm

Condition: Excellent condition with hardly any wear.
Provenance: Ex-collection Gretchen Kroch Kelsch. Then Ex-collection Ted Wrangham, collection no.1839, purchased from Eskenazi Ltd., London, in 1987. Edward A. 'Ted' Wrangham (1928-2009) formed one of the most important collections of Japanese Art in modern times. His reference book 'The Index of Inro Artists' (1995) is considered one of the most important English-language studies on Japanese lacquer ever published.

A masterfully lacquered and metal-inlaid inro, not only featuring a very rare design but also with seven compartments (!).

The Kachi-Kachi yama story, also known as the Farmer and the Badger, is one of the few Japanese folktales in which a badger (tanuki) is a murderous villain rather than the boisterous, corpulent alcoholic. The episode depicted here is when the tanuki challenged the rabbit to a life and death contest to prove who was the better creature. They were each to build a boat and race across a lake in them. The rabbit carved its boat out of a fallen tree trunk, but the foolish tanuki made a boat of mud. At first, the two competitors were evenly matched, but the badger's mud boat began to dissolve in the middle of the lake and instead of saving the badger, the rabbit strikes him with an oar, and proclaimed his friendship with the innocent human couple whom the wicked badger had earlier inflicted its horrible deeds - thus revealing his revenge.

The name Kachi-Kachi yama (meaning fire-crackle mountain) comes from the especially painful trick that the rabbit played, prior to the scene depicted on the inro. While the tanuki was carrying a heavy load of kindling on his back to make a campfire for the night, he was so burdened that he did not immediately notice when the rabbit set fire to the kindling. Soon, the crackling sound reached its ears and it asked the rabbit what the sound was. "It is Kachi-Kachi Yama" the rabbit replied. "We are not far from it, so it is no surprise that you can hear it!". Eventually, the fire reached the tanuki's back, burning it badly, but without killing it.