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Japanese Teak Chair. Does anyone know anything?

Badgerblack

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Hello. My sister has recent bought this Japanese chair. The main body of the chair is one piece of teak wood. It has been in a Japanese family for around 100 years, so is certainly older than this. It was would love to know more about it, if anyone knows anything.
 

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Are there any markings of any type (no matter how small) under it or on it anywhere? It might help if there is and you could take a close up picture. Maybe something burned into the wood. Might take a day or two to get an answer , some people only get on during the weekend.
 
Hello Uncle Sam,

Thank you for responding. It has these burns on the back on the 'neck-rest' part.

No other marks apart from this. I will check if there is anything on the underside next time I am there.
 

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Could be homemade or local craftsman made if it doesn't have any markings. So then I guess you should try to investigate when this style of chair was common. I've never seen anything like it. Probably I would keep an eye on ebay for listings like "antique oriental wooden chair" etc. I browsed Yahoo auctions (Japan's "Ebay") but didn't see anything similar but I didn't look too far. Maybe you can check further.
 
Hello mdchachi,

Thank you for your response. We also thought that it could have been made by a local craftsman. Yes I have been trying to look for something similar on the web, to no avail. I have the impression that the burn marks (see above) have actually been burnt over two circular marks that were there before, though this is just a guess and I could be wrong. A shame if they are burnt over some clues to its origins.

The yahoo auctions is a great idea, thanks.
 
Badgerblack said:
Hello Uncle Sam,

Thank you for responding. It has these burns on the back on the 'neck-rest' part.

No other marks apart from this. I will check if there is anything on the underside next time I am there.
Click to expand...
My sincere apologies, I have only just seen I got your name wrong Uncle Frank.
 
Given the location, I doubt the burnt marks were originally anything. Probably just damage or damage repair.
 
OK , LOL. That looks like lightning struck it to me , but hopefully it may mean something with more knowledge. I hope someone can help because I'm curious about it now. It's only about 3:30 in the morning in Japan now , so later we might hear something. At my age , I even answer to "hear boy" and Uncle Sam is a personal friend , LOL.
 
Haha I'll try not to divert too far away from Uncle Frank if I can!

Yes the burn is exactly on the centre and appears to have come later, as it traverses two pieces of wood. Not sure what to make of it really.

A little side note, my nephew remarked that the shape the legs make with the seat (see the first picture) reminded him of the arches and temples he saw in Japan. Like this one for example Photo by Kevin Ma on Unsplash
 
Teak is not a japanese wood, it's native to south and southeast asia. It'd be a guess, but whatever japanese family had that chair likely imported it from there (or bought it as an import). Someone on a thai/burma/sri lanka forum might be able to give you some information about it.

(The design of the chair itself doesn't look at all japanese, either.)
 
Thank you very much for your reply.

Yes, very true Teak isn't native to Japan. Although I am not even 100% sure it is teak, perhaps someone could confirm that.

Yes I will try some South East Asian forums as well.
 
No matter where it is from you got a fine piece of history there and hope you can find more about it. Good luck.
 
Sorry, I have nothing to contribute either, but your chair is an amazing piece of furniture/art!
 
At first glance, the design doesn't remind me of anything I've seen in Japan. The shape and look of it, particularly the low profile and wide armrests made me think of a Balinese gift shop I used to visit, so I looked up "antique teak chair Indonesia" and these were among the results. Considering the simple unadorned design it's hard to say with certainty where it's from, but the profile is very similar to these Balinese armchairs, and could either have been done by a local craftsman or apprentice, or the design may have been recreated by someone who was inspired by these profiles, perhaps on a visit to SE Asia.






 
I think you're onto something. I have a feeling it's not Japanese at all even though a Japanese family owned it.
 
Hello all. Thank you so much for your responses. Yes it appears that it would most likely be from South East Asia and then imported to Japan. It is an incredibly unique shape, that it makes it so hard to pin down.

Thanks again helping me with this.
 
Another thought, it looks like an unfinished version of the second photo nice gaijin posted.
 
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