There is a certain degree of exoticism regarding the
careful packaging of Japanese art object for storage as well as their presentation
and display. Case in point is this set of bags for a rather special luster
chaire by Kato Takuo, complete with three compartment signed wood box and outer
lacquered storage box. The front purple bag is padded and holds the chaire
while in normal storage, the bags to the left and right are the two bags that
are used during tea ceremony, chosen to best fit the attitude and specifics of
the ceremony. In the rear is the large bag for the very nice wood storage
container that the bagged chaire rests in while in the signed wood box. The lathe turned
wood container reminds me a lot of a natsume at list in form and may be turned
out of kurogaki wood though I am not sure, I will post up a picture of it in a
future post. As I look on the total package deal involved with this
single and diminutive chaire I can't help but be reminded of the 1975 book that
had a profound influence on me, HOW TO WRAP FIVE EGGS by Oka Hideyuki which
still sits proudly on my shelf next to me as I type this though quite honestly,
quite thumb worn, annotated and chocked full of small bookmarks with even more
notes and questions. I think you would have to admit that little comes close to
this type of presentation despite the fact that in this particular case Kato
Takuo has gone the extra mile and then some.
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