Tansu (箪笥) are traditional Japanese mobile storage cabinets. Tansu are commonly used for the storage of clothing, particularly kimono. Tansu were first recorded in the Genroku era (1688–1704) of the Edo period (1603–1867). The two characters, tan (箪) and su (笥), appear to have initially represented objects with separate functions: the storage of food and the carrying of firewood. Since the radical for bamboo (竹) appears in each of these characters, it may be surmised that bamboo, and not wood, was the original material used in tansu. As tansu gradually became a feature of Japanese culture and daily life, both hard and softwoods were used by tansuya (tansu craftsmen), often in combination for a single chest. Woods commonly used in tansu included keyaki (Zelkova serrata (elm)), kuri (Japanese chestnut), ezo matsu (pine), sugi (Cryptomeria (cedar)), kiri (Paulownia tomentosa) and hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa (cypress)). Tansu are collectable, and many collectors focus on finding genuine antique tansu. There are just a few workshops who produce tansu in imitation of the classic antiques, due to the high cost of materials and the very low prices of second-hand tansu. Larger chests are sometimes reduced in size, particularly futon chests, step chests and other chests with deep drawers. Some reproduction tansu have been made in Korea using elm veneer.
Historical context
Tansu were rarely used as stationary furniture. Consistent with traditional Japanese interior design, which featured a number of movable partitions, allowing for the creation of larger and smaller rooms within the home, tansu would need to be easily portable, and were not visible in the home except at certain times for specific situations. Tansu were typically kept in kura (storehouses) adjacent to homes or businesses, in nando (storage rooms), in oshiire (house closet alcoves), and on choba (a raised platform area of a shop). Tansu would also be kept on some sengokubune (coastal ships). Mobility was obtained through the use of attached wheels, iron carry handles or protruding structural upper rails for lifting. Because the Edo period was feudal in its socio-economic structure, rules concerning the ownership of goods dominated all classes, from peasant to samurai. Travelling was regulated and conspicuous consumption discouraged through sumptuary laws. Tansu from this time primarily reflect the class and occupation of the owner rather than any regionally inspired originality. With the coming of the Meiji Restoration of imperial authority in 1868, and the gradual disintegration of the rigid class structure, distinctive regional characteristics in tansu construction and design began to flourish.
Types
Edo period – class-determined
During the Edo period (1603–1867), the type of tansu a person owned and used was largely determined by social class.
Choba-dansu These chests were used by chōnin (merchants) on the choba (raised platform area of a shop) to store daifukucho (account books) and related business materials. These chests came in many sizes, but usually consisted of only one section with numerous compartments and a wide variety of interior configurations. If visible to the customer, the face wood and hardware could be of high quality to convey a favorable impression.
Kaidan-dansu (階段箪笥) These step chests, often of modular construction, incorporated drawers and sliding doors. Though primarily intended as stationary adjuncts to the building architecture, they were designed to be moveable if necessary. In the Tōhoku region north of Tokyo, kaidan-dansu were sometimes positioned in farmhouses for attic access and the seasonal nurturing of silkworms under the thatched roofing. This use of "structural dead space" for storage, thus leaving floor space more open, is paralleled in 19th-century America by the Shakers.
Katana-dansu (刀箪笥) A series of boxes with several long drawers for the storage of sword blades. They were used primarily by blade polishers. Most often the case wood of choice was Paulownia tomentosa (kiri) to help protect blades from oxidization in the humid summer months. The light weight of the wood also made it easier to move around between samurai customers.
Kusuri-dansu Apothecary chests with many small drawers to contain medicinal herbs. Because the chests/boxes often needed to be carried by itinerant salesmen, they were often constructed with light-weight kiri (paulownia), or sugi (cedar) wood, and utilized iron hardware only sparingly.
Nagamochi kuruma-dansu These coffers on wheels are the oldest documented example of Japanese mobile cabinetry. Diaries from a trade delegation to Edo (modern-day Tokyo) from the Dutch East India Company settlement on Dejima Island, Nagasaki in March 1657, refer to "big chests on four wheels" that so blocked the roads, people could not escape. What Zacharias Wagenaer and his mission witnessed by chance became known as the Great Fire of Meireki, in which 107,000 people perished.
Ryobiraki kasane-dansu These chest-on-chest tansu were used for storage of women's clothing. This design was designated as acceptable for merchant class women under the Kansei Reforms promulgated by the shōgun's regent Matsudaira Sadanobu in 1789. In that this style of double door, two-section tansu for clothing was already popular in Edo, the limitation to only an unlacquered finish may not have been thought excessive.
Meiji period – regional diversification During the Meiji period (1868–1911), the design of tansu developed further, seeing more regional diversification following the abolition of the feudal class system in Japan.
Hikone mizuya-dansu Although mizuya (kitchen chests) both of a single section and chest on chest configuration have been crafted to fit into or adjacent to home kitchen alcoves since at least the mid-Edo period, the mizuya produced in the town of Hikone on Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture united house storage needs and traditional architecture based upon the archaic shaku unit of measurement. Using mortise and tenon joints with Chamaecyparis obtusa (cypress) (hinoki) for primary framing, craftsmen cleverly lightened the visual mass of the case by using a translucent lacquered (kijiro nuri) finish for the door and drawer face woods. For the hardware, copper rather than iron was preferred.
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