Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 21. (Budapest, 2002)

Monika BINCSIK: The Trade in Japanese Art during the Meiji Period with Special Reference to Lacquer, as Mirrored in the Collections at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, Budapest

tees and support), Fukui Tokushiro's father opened his business in District 4, today's District 2, of Honmachi.

55 Fujii Hikobee, dealer in lacquer objects. District 2, Sumiyoshi In the first year of Manen [ 1860], at the same time that the port was opened, Mr. Fujii arrived in Yokohama and opened a cotton textile business. [...] Having joined the Fujii business, which is located in District 1, Benten, he was initially an apprentice. Later it was he who took over the management of the shop [he inherited it]. Being an able trader, he had the idea of trying to export lacquer objects. To begin with he experimented cautiously [his stock was small], but later he dealt in lacquer objects of all kinds. As well as these, he also sold jinrikishas to the Eastern shore [East Asia]. [...] From birth he has had a refined sense for the arts. [...] He wore the characteristically Japanese hairstyle [chonmage], and was unconcerned that this had already gone out of fashion. [...] Mr. Fujii is one of the celebrities of our town.

56 Yokoyama Köjirö, Yairiya shop for lacquer objects. No. 20, District 1, Ôta machi At the time the port was opened, after raw silk and tea it was the export of Shizuoka lacquer objects that received the most support. As an experiment, the Shogunate had a shop opened on Honmachi. Between two consignments everything was sold, thus it was a big success. After this more and more people opened shops. For a long time Mr. Yairiya Yokoyama Tôtarô carried on his lacquer business from Shizuoka. [...] In the thirteenth year of Meiji [1880] he opened a branch shop of Yairiya in Honmachi, and then moved to Ôta machi. His business policy was reliability [he sold goodquality merchandise]. Through hard work he expanded his business, and eventually attempted to export abroad directly. Then Germany suddenly became envious of the excellence of Japanese lacquered objects, substituting synthetic lacquer for real lacquer. It then exported to India copies that at first glance seemed to be Japanese products. It was a strong competitor, but then it was discovered that these products were not at all lasting [they chipped], with the result that the German opponents dropped out of the competition. [Mr. Köjirö] will soon surely conquer the eastern and western seaboards with products characteristic of not-to-distant Japan [...].

57 Ogawa Taisuke, dealer in lacquer objects. No. 25, District 2, Sumiyoshi The Ogawa business originally dealt in tea. Perhaps because it was in Shizuoka, his native region, that the business's owner, Mr. Ogawa Taisuke, acquired many years of experience. In the thirteenth year of Meiji [ 1880] he moved to Yokohama and opened a shop in District 4 of Motohamachö, carrying on a trade in lacquer objects since the fifteenth year of Meiji [1882]. Giving up completely the original profile of the business, by the twenty-first year of Meiji [1888] he had specialised entirely in the lacquer trade. In the twenty-forth year of Meiji [1891] he was already a counsellor at the Yokohama Chamber of Industry and Commerce, and, with the aim of developing the products and widening the market, organised the local lacquer artists' trade association. In the following year the members of the last-mentioned association elected him a member of the Lacquer Department of the Chamber of Commerce. [...] At the age of sixty Mr Ogawa became president of the lacquer artists' association, and, accepting the recommendation of the Osaka association, supported, to his very great merit, the movement against 50 per cent higher taxes on imported Chinese lacquer [the raw material]. In the thirtieth year of Meiji [1897], as a representative of the Yokohama association, he turned to Parliament and brought the movement for the abolition of taxes on lacquer great success.

58 Travelling in Japan in 1907, Count Péter Vay purchased numerous lacquered objects for Budapest's Museum of Fine Arts from funds placed at his disposal by the Hungarian cultural ministry. Some of the artefacts he acquired at the Kuhn & Komor firm of art dealers. In the preface he wrote for the 1908 catalogue of the art works he collected in Japan, he characterised his experiences of lacquer art as follows: Nippon's noblest and most characteristic