Naga397 Red bronze hand mirror (Japanese)

Red Bronze hand mirror, Japanese in the design of a phoenix over a stylized tree in bloom, plum or paulownia perhaps? Grasses and shells and wave patterns fill out the bottom of the design. To the right are the raised characters for the Mori Family, Governer of the Province of Inaba. Inaba is the modern Tottori Prefecture along the Japan Sea. Early governors numbered Otomo Yakamochi, the compiler of the Manyoshu, Japan’s first collection of poetry in 750 a.d., and Ariwara Yukihira, brother of the poet Ariwara Narihira whose poems are known from the Kokinwakashu of 905 and previously in The Tales of Ise. The Mori Family governed the Province of Inaba, after the Onin Wars, in the 16th century, one of many families to do so in the pre-modern era. Can still be used as a reflecting mirror. Could this be original? Diameter 18.4 cm., thickness 3 cm.

naga397 Red Bronze hand mirror   $83.00 (shipping & packing available) We accept VISA and MASTERCARD See more at Richard Arts