Set of Four Festival Float Balustrade Hangings, Raised Gold-Thread Tigers and Karajishi Lions, Glass Eyes, Each 92 x 74 cm
Set of Four Festival Float Balustrade Hangings, Raised Gold-Thread Tigers and Karajishi Lions, Glass Eyes, Each 92 x 74 cm
- Dispatch
- Prepared and sent from Tokyo within 7–14 days, often sooner, or as arranged
- Arrival
- États-Unis · usually 4–7 days after dispatch, insured and tracked Check the Shipping Flowchart here
- Import
Duties and customs · View the estimate
A guide for this piece: about $375, based on the 10% US charge on the declared value of goods made in Japan.
The final figure is set by US Customs and depends on where the piece was made and the kind of object it is. Many antiques over a century old carry no ordinary duty; most jewellery and leather goods add a single-digit rate.
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- Character
- Resplendent 9.5 of 10 ·
- Replies
- Within one Tokyo business day · Ask the curator team
- Guarantee
- Authenticity guaranteed · How we grade
Every piece is measured by hand, in centimetres as Japan measures. Please allow 1–2 cm (about ½ inch) for the give of the material and the hand that held the tape.
Where each figure is taken · View the plate
Object, sculpture and ceramics
Condition report
As Found
- Giftable
- Mint
- Excellent
- Very Good
- Good
- Honest Wear
- As Found
Gold That Rode Through the Streets
These panels were made to be seen from below, swaying on a float in a festival crowd, and their relief embroidery and glass eyes still carry across a room. The wear is the record of the festivals they served. The tiger and lion are the same guardian beasts that later stitched themselves onto the sukajan.
Best for: Textile and folk art collectors; dramatic wall display
Condition notes
Used festival textiles: fraying, lifting and loss to areas of metallic thread, old repairs in places.
Grades, ratings and commentary are given to the best of our ability, knowledge and experience, and condition remains partly a matter of personal perception. What we stand behind without qualification is authenticity, truthful description and provenance, to the best of our knowledge. How we grade
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Four embroidered hangings that once dressed the balustrade of a Japanese festival float: two tigers among bamboo and two karajishi lions, worked in raised gold thread on crimson and black, each with glinting glass eyes. Each panel measures about 92 by 74 cm.
The Piece
In the great float festivals of western Japan, the taikodai drum floats and danjiri carts are hung with koran-gake, embroidered panels that wrap the railings and catch the light as the float is carried through the streets. The embroidery is built up thickly over padding so that the animals stand out in relief and can be read from the crowd below.
Here the tigers prowl through bamboo with striped coats in gold and black, mouths open on red tongues and white fangs, their whiskers picked out in silver. The karajishi, guardian lions of Buddhist tradition, curl their manes and tails into spirals of gold thread, their bodies dotted with green, beneath flowering branches. Each animal sits on a crimson field framed by a broad black border, and the panels share a cream heading band. The thread is the wiry couched metallic thread of the float embroiderers, and the eyes are set in like jewels.
Details
- Type: Koran-gake (balustrade hangings) for a festival float, set of four
- Motifs: two tigers among bamboo; two karajishi lions with flowering branches
- Technique: raised, padded metallic-thread embroidery; inset eyes
- Ground: crimson field, black border, cream heading band
- Size: each about 92 x 74 cm (36.2 x 29.1 in)
- Period: described as more than a century old, possibly Meiji era; used in festivals
Measurements; please allow a gentle margin of about 1 to 2 cm (0.5 in).
Condition
- Worn from use, as befits festival textiles of this age.
- Fraying, lifting and loss to areas of the metallic thread, with old repairs in places.
- Every photograph is part of the description; close photographs of any area are available from the Desk.
Condition grade C (worn, as found) on the Japanese scale; see Japanese condition ranks, explained.
Authenticity & Care
Checked and photographed in Japan before dispatch. Store flat or loosely rolled with acid-free tissue, never folded across the embroidery, and display away from direct sun.
Delivery from Japan
Rolled by hand in Japan with tissue between the panels and shipped insured and tracked by EMS or an equivalent express service. Import duties and taxes, where applicable, are payable on arrival. Every sale is final; please ask anything you wish to know before you buy, and see our published policy.
Considered offers are welcome through Send an Offer, and each one is reviewed personally. Explore our textile heritage archive and the collector guides.
Concierge
Looking for festival float embroidery, a mizuhiki-maku or a single striking panel? Our Hunting Salon™ locates it across Japan's private collector circles, then inspects, documents and delivers it to you. Begin a Hunting Salon™ request.
Collectors also search: danjiri embroidery panels · taikodai koran-gake tiger · Japanese festival float textile gold thread
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