A lacquered box decorated with blow fish traveling in a rainbow sea by Yamazaki Kakutaro exhibited at the 13th Teiten National Art Exhibition in 1932 enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Yugyo Kazaribako. This artist was way ahead of his time. Air bubbles of mother of pearl are inlayed into the upper surface. Sea shells are depicted between typical art-deco era inlays on the sides, and it is signed beneath. The box is 27.5 x 33.5 x 5.8 (11 x 13-1/2 x 2 inches). With very minor abrasions typical of use, it is in overall excellent condition.
Yamazaki Kakutaro (1899-1984) of Toyama prefecture was an innovative lacquer artist known for his development of colored urushi, which contributed to the growth of modern urushi art and gave his many pupils opportunities for new artistic development. He graduated from the Lacquer Arts Department of the Tokyo Fine Arts School in 1924. In 1925, he won a gold medal at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes in Paris. From 1928, he served as an assistant professor at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, later becoming a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. In 1939, he was appointed judge for the Bunten Exhibition; in 1946, for the Nitten Exhibition. He became a councilor of the Nitten Management Committee in 1950 (a permanent director in 1957). In 1954, he received the Japan Art Academy Award, and was a special selection recipient at the Teiten Exhibition. He became a member of the Japan Art Academy in 1957. In 1958, he was appointed managing director of the Nitten, later serving as director general and eventually president. In 1961, he helped found the Japan Contemporary Arts and Crafts Association and became its chairman, assuming the presidency in 1965. Work by him is held in the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, Hiroshima Prefectural Museum and Takaoka City Museum among others.
