| TOKKURI (sake bottles) |
| Along with sake cups are many accessories--trays, saucers, and bottles. The bottles are as prized as cups by many. The patterns and kanji are the same as on cups, so no extra explanation is needed. These bottles were sold either alone or with a single matching cup, but once in a while the more expensive sets would have two matching tokkuri and five matching cups. I think Dan King has a picture of one of these sets in his book. Tokkuri often have embossed symbols, which are later painted. The shapes of tokkuri vary, but most military ones have the tsuru-kubi (crane neck) shape. The artillery shell bottles (see below) have what is called rosoku-kei (candle shape). |
| Since a cup with a triangular base doesn't stand up on its own, a cup holder was needed. I think that all of these bomb tokkuri came with the removable base and cup holder, but for some reason the base is rarely found. I guess that once the base is apart from the tokkuri, people have no idea what it is and throw it away. Anyway, here is a nice example of a bomb tokkuri with base. |
| Another rare item. Shaped like a flag on a pole, the top of the staff comes off in two parts: one part a sake cup and the other a stand for the cup. |
| A variation of the artillery shell tokkuri, this one complete without a base. Since the cup has a nice hawk shape, it is free-standing. |
| A pair of commemorative tokkuri. The flags say 'Army Navy Banzai!' and 'Imperial Japan, Banzai!' Probably made for civilians basking in the glow of military victories. Circa early 1900s. Note the shape is different than later military tokkuri. This shape is called mentori. |
| Here are some examples of the highly-prized artillery shell tokkuri. The shape is like an artillery shell, and it is obviously impressive on display. The top can be removed and serves as the sake cup, which makes it kind of a novelty item. The bottle itself has the rosoku-kei (candle shape) Perhaps expensive when originally made, these are not easy to find. And so often when found they are in poor condition. This white one is not; the paint is still bright. See below for a rarer example!! |
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