The Hatsune Trousseau, Three Shelf Cabinets

NATIONAL TREASURE
Hatsune (First Warbler) motif derived from The Tale of Genji

Bridal trousseau in the Edo period were commissioned befitting one's family status.
Princess Chiyo (1637-1699). the eldest daughter of the 3rd Tokugawa Shogun Iemitsu, received this bridal trousseau in 1639, when she married Mitsutomo, the 2nd Lord of the Owari clan. The motif on the matching ensemble comes from a poem in "The First Warbler", chapter 23 of The Tale of Genji, which reads: " The old one's gaze rests long on the seedling pine, waiting to hear the song of the first warbler, in the village where it does not sing." The poetic design is elegantly embedded in the lacquered furnishings with scattered letters and pictorial motifs. Designated a National Treasure, the Hatsune Trousseau represents the finest example of the decorative lacquer technique of maki-e (sprinkled metal decoration on lacquer surface) in Japan as well the power of the Tokugawa Shogunate.