Posted 2 years ago
kwqd
(1189 items)
These porcelain sumo wrestler hashioki are about 2" long x 1.5" wide x .5" high.
In original box and unopened. I wonder why? Maybe the Japanese equivalent of a gag gift? I took them out of their plastic sleeves to make this post. Just an example of how bawdy hashioki can be! I have seen many designs but this is probably among the least appetizing!
They are unmarked. Not sure of the maker, but have seen this same box and bottom label of other sets of (more tasteful) hashioki, so have not given up hope of identifying the kiln that made these.
I have taken high definition closeups of each one and will rotate them into the first image, for your future viewing pleasure.
It turns out that a lot of Japanese tableware is packaged in sets of five: tea cups, plates, rice bowls, and so on. I have not been able to unearth a definitive reason for this, but I have collected quite a few contributing facts and practices.
H. Elliott McClure, an American collector hashioki collector who lived in Japan after the Occupation, had a charming explanation for sets of five. “Hashioki are usually sold in little boxes of five. Traditionally, five is the preferred number rather than six because it is an uneven number and uneven numbers have a future. One or more pieces can be added to make them even or perfect numbers; therefore the buyer and user is said to be blessed by the future.”(1)
However, people who prefer sets of five are probably thinking more about avoiding bad luck than they are about attracting good luck.
IMG_3572IMG_3581IMG_3577
Sets of four, which are common in the West, are rarely seen in Japan because one pronunciation for four (shi) is also the pronunciation for the word for death. When I first went to Japan in the early 1990s multi-story buildings didn’t generally have a fourth floor; the floor count progressed directly three to five.
IMG_3566Five has particular significance in Japanese cuisine. Food is said to have five basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and savory. There are also five recognized ways to arrange food on a plate: yamamori, or mountainlike mounds; sugimori, standing or slanting; hiramori, flat arrangements; ayamori, woven arrangements, and yosemori, gathered arrangements.(2)
Five is a significant number in Buddhism, which of course permeates Japan. The famous IMG_3570swordsman and philosophy Miyamoto Musashi wrote about the five elements that make up the Buddhist cosmos — ground, water, fire, wind and void — in his classic The Book of Five Rings. He also identified the five key parts of the human body: head, left elbow, right elbow, left knee, and right knee.
I have to admit that before I started research, I thought sets of five hashioki existed because that seemed to match the composition of the families I saw in restaurants and on the streets in Japan: mother, father, child, and two grandparents.
IMG_3564There are of course other reasons why the number five resonates with human beings, whether they use chopsticks or not. We have five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. Our faces have five openings (eyes, nostrils, and mouth), and we have five senses. So grouping items in sets of five is probably a universal predilection that packaging in Japan seems to amplify.
IMG_3599Some sets of five hashioki feature rests that are identical, like this lovely set of Arita porcelain that was apparently distributed as some sort of thank gift by Japan’s ANA Airlines. According to the paperwork in the box, the set reproduces a pattern created by Sakaida Kakiemon for a family kiln established in 1616. About a quarter of the sets of five that I own are identical sets which I have used in other parts of this book, including the black kaban kettles shown in “Cast iron teapot,” and the first tanuki shown in “Bad Boys.”
Slightly more common are sets of five where the shape and motif are the same, but the coloring or the decoration is different. Several examples of these kinds of sets are shown earlier in this chapter. Other examples are shown here.
This set of five ceramic violins (left) seems to bridge the gap between sets that are identical and sets that are slightly different; these violins are almost identical, but subtle variations in their hand painting makes each member of the set a bit unique.
Less common than identical sets where there is a unifying theme, but the pieces are physically different. Examples of this include this set of vegetables (right) carved from bamboo, including a carrot,an eggplant, a radish, a cucumber or bitter mellon, and a fiddlehead fern,
and these frolicking felines, which shows 5 cats in 3 different poses.
Hashioki that are packaged in a set of five have some unique advantages, even for Westerners who may persist in thinking in terms of four. With a set of five if lose one or break one — something that often happens with small and delicate items — you still have enough to set the table for two couples.
your answer about why 5 pieces of hasioko , a time ago
Thanks for the great information and comments, waki. Hence my confusion when I first started researching this! It is all very interesting, even if there is no definitive answer.
I will be posting identical sets of six and twelve, soon, to make it even more confusing....
I guess if you bought it for the box it looks quite nice.
Thanks for your comment, PhilDMorris! I agree, great box. It would be quite a surprise to open this very nice box and then see the contents if you did not know what was in it.
Waki - Very interesting information. When my father passed a long time ago, I was asked to help sell his car. The couple who bought it were Chinese and they had to give me a check and cash to avoid certain unlucky numbers. Then I went to DMV with them to swap title. They made the lady give them a different set of plates to avoid the unlucky numbers.
Kevin - I love watching Grand Sumo. Used to watch with my mom and still do. Tournament just ended. You can watch on NHK World..America or Japan channel.
Thanks for the comments and Sumo tip, Dave!
Dave! Just added NHK World to my Roku Channels! Great content on this channel. Thanks!
Oh dear god! Cat's Eye View of Japan on NHK World! There go my good intentions to do some work today!
There should be a Japanese and American channel. Look for Grand Sumo Highlights and Sumopedia.
The Japanese channel shows the whole sumo match which can be very long. Highlights just show the matched without all the ceremony and stuff.
Sumopedia is just a 10 to 15 minute episodes that explain sumo traditions and what stuff is called.
Next Grand Sumo is..May 1st. Goes 15 days straight.
Thanks kivatinitz, Kevin, Vynil33rpm, Cisum, dav2no1, PhilDMorris, fortapache, Manikin, jscott0363 and Falcon61!
These sorts of items are so amusing!
I would have bought them too, just to smile a bit
Thanks for your comments, Karen! I averted my eyes a few times before finally unable to resist them.
Thanks for loving my sumo wrestler hashioki, Karen, sherrilou, jbingham95, Cokeman1959, Jenni and vcal!