Mt. Fuji Writing Box

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Mt. Fuji Writing Box

About the Item

Suzuribako writing box with décor of Mount Fuji on a gold lacquer ground, the inside with gold lacquer waves on black ground; comes with a fine silver and gold suiteki in shape of a flying crane, the original suzuri ink stone and a the original pens and paper cutter. Also comes with the original lacquered kiri-wood fitted box which is inscribed in gold on black lacquer: Fuji suzuri.

The writing box represents a message for the New Year. The snow-clad image of Mount Fuji on the cover has for centuries been a favorite New Year’s motif, and the box would have been opened with the expectation of finding yet more New Year messages. Here the viewer would not have been disappointed, as she or he would have found images of a crane flying over ocean waves, a combination that further denotes the New Year. This combination was brought to Japan from China a millennia ago, and has become a firm part of the cultural symbolism marking the beginning of a new year in Japan.

An important annual ritual unites writing boxes such as this one with the New Year. This is the kakizome ceremony, which marks the first time that a writing box is opened in the new year. Kakizome (literally "first writing") is a Japanese term for the first calligraphy written at the beginning of a year, traditionally on the 2nd of January. Originally kakizome was performed using an ink stick rubbed on the suzuri ink stone with droplets of the first water drawn from the well on New Year's Day. Seated facing a favorable direction, the calligrapher would then open his or her writing boxes and write poetry containing auspicious words and phrases such as long life, spring, or perennial youth.

The present writing box was surely used many times for this ritual and then packed away in its fitted box until the next New Year. It was the ideal vessel with which to perform this ritual, as its images reminds the calligrapher of the season of the year and the reason for performing the ritual.

Dimensions:
Height: 1.66 in (4.2 cm)Width: 8.39 in (21.3 cm)Depth: 9.65 in (24.5 cm)
Materials and Techniques:
Gold,Lacquer,Silver
Place of Origin:
Japan
Period:
Early 20th Century
Date of Manufacture:
Meiji Period, ca 1900
Condition:
Seller Location:
New York, NY
Reference Number:
Seller: T-31771stDibs: U110510898829

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