Nowadays, the steps are display places for treasured lacquerware and celadon porcelain.
Merchants of kaidan tansu side portable#
The drawers frequently extended completely through the stairs, with drawer pulls on either side - a great feature if you've ever tried to reach a pair of socks stashed in the back of the traditional dresser drawer! The stairs allowed access to high storage areas or lofts in the same way as portable stairs allow librarians to reach to topmost book shelves in a library. Its beauty traditionally was in its simplicity of design to serve more than one function. Tansu come in all shapes and sizes, from the smallest hibachi (brazier), haribako (sewing kit) or tabako-bon (tobacco box) to large isho-dansu (clothing closet), naga-mochi (linen closet), mizuya-dansu (kitchen chest) and chodansu (merchant's shop chest).īut it was the remarkable kaidan-dansu (free-standing staircase with built in compartments) that had captured the imagination of our friend Gwen. And he practices what he preaches in his own home, "My stereo equipment is in one, and all my clothing is in another." Jeffery Cline of Kagedo Japanese Art and Antiques has clients who find tansu easily adapted to contemporary storage. Many have found their way to America through the import/export trade.
The 19th and early 20th centuries are sometimes referred to as "the golden age of tansu" because of quantity and range of types built during that time. Tansu in their many guises developed during the Edo period (1615-1868), reflecting the rise of a prosperous merchant class. Movable partitions and screens made the small interiors adaptable to many uses, and furniture was small and portable, consisting of several storage chests, called tansu. Traditional Japanese homes had little furniture. She had never seen a "tansu" before, and was instantly taken into its spell. On an excursion to Tacoma, we stopped at Twice Told Tales Antique Mall in University Place and Gwen found magic in a varnished wood staircase of small and large drawers and cabinets with sliding doors, embellished with wrought-iron hardware. OUR FRIEND GWEN Ewan had come to visit from Victoria, B.C., and casually mentioned a need for a small chest of drawers.
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