Mid to late Edo Period (18th-19th century)
Homma Museum of Art Collection
Wedding ceremonies within lordly families in Japan were held after going through the Shōgunate’s approval system, which required numerous established routines and rituals. On the occasion of the wedding ceremony, the house involved would arrange various furnishings for the ceremony (being items collected by a bride for her wedding) according to the rank of the lordly house involved. Half of these would feature the family crest of the bride’s family, and would be unified via a matching design.
The tableware and bowls featured here are believed to be such wedding furnishings, and originate as the legacy possessions of the Sakai family of Shōnai Domain. By observing the family crest, we can see these likely came from the Tayasu Tokugawa family, an auxiliary clan of the Tokugawa through whom Shōguns could be selected. These are believed to be the items brought by Shūhime (the adopted daughter of the first lord of the Tayasu Tokugawa clan, Munetake), who married the 7th lord of the domain, Sakai Tadaari in November of 1773, or the possessions of Ryōhime (daughter of the third head of the Tayasu Tokugawa clan, Narikuni), from when she married the 9th lord of the domain, Sakai Tadaaki, in June of 1829.