Antique Shop 19th /early 20th century. Wood. 24 x 36 inches. The treatment of a sign as a work of art in Japan can bring about elaborate solutions. This sign has been kindly lent to the American exhibition by the owner of an antique shop in
Any resemblance between this sign for a bucket shop in Japan and the trademark of Ballantine beer in America is, besides coincidental, proof of the universality of a good graphic symbol. The three interlocking rings here suggest the rims of three buckets, and the meaning of the characters written within each circle make up a pun which alludes to the trade. From right to left, the characters read tai(large) and fu(wind), a compound for the word typhoon. The square with a diagonal design at the uppermost circle is a symbol for
thus encouraged and stimulated domestic trade and business. Policies of "free guilds" and "free markets" generated commerce in the capital (whose population exceeded one million) as well as in the older metropolises of Osaka and Kyoto. It was only a matter of a decade or two before affluence shifted from the 38
Matsumoto, where it has served as a sign for a few decades. The carvings of the mythological figures here—a crane, a god, and two dragon heads—date to the 18th century. They were arranged in an architectural frame suggesting a temple or shrine in the early part of this century,together with the carving of the store's three character name.
Bucket Shop 19th century. Wood, metal, and white pigment. 15 x 17 inches.
samurai, the aristocratic keepers of the regime and a military elite, to the chOnin, or merchants and townspeople. Theirs was a culture of a prosperous bourgeoisie. Known as the ukiyo, or "floating world:' its fugitive pleasures were the magic of geisha, kabuki players, sumo wrestlers, and profligate spending.
the standard measure called a masu, which is synonymous with the word "to increase': The meaning is obscure: Is it that the bucketmaker's trade "increases with the "typhoons" because more buckets for water will have to be used to guard against the fires which often break out during such high winds? Or, will the bucket-maker's trade "increase" during the "typhoons" because more buckets will be necessary to collect the rain water? Whatever the meaning, such puns were commonly used in the design of kanban.
In the woodblock prints, novels, and dramas of the day, these popular figures were celebrated in their own settings. We can imagine the streets of Edo lined with shops, restaurants, bath-houses, inns, countinghouses, theaters, and specialty stores. Advertising everything from green tea to beautiful women, kanban was very much part of the scene—in