hand-grenade;
storage box
- Museum number
- 2013,3031.1
- Description
-
Stoneware hand-grenade casing, Bizen ware. With inscribed paulownia storage box.
- Production date
- 1944-1945
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 6 centimetres (max)
-
Height: 8 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- This hand-grenade casing was made by Yamamoto Tōshū on the orders of the Japanese Imperial Army around 1945, close to the end of World War II. The number '11', which is stamped on the base, refers to the Yamamoto kiln. Most ceramic grenades were made using moulds, but unusually this one was formed on the wheel and is exceptionally well crafted. The casing demonstrates how top ceramic artists were mobilised for the war effort.
(N. C. Rousmaniere, 2013)
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2014 Oct - , BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from Prehistory to the Present'
- Acquisition date
- 2013
- Acquisition notes
- When the war ended, Tōshū buried his grenade casings in land owned by the family. When the family was rebuilding their house around 2003, two hundred grenades were unearthed. One hundred and ninety-nine were given to the local museum, with the family retaining only one. That one casing was presented to the British Museum by Yabe Atsuo, the third son of Yamamoto Tōshū.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 2013,3031.1
