What is a Tansu?
A Tansu is a traditional Japanese wooden chest. Made up of a combination of drawers and sliding doors, tansu were designed to accommodate a variety of different uses. When thinking about identifying antique Japanese furniture, it is helpful to imagine sitting on a two and a half-inch thick rice mat known as a tatami. From this low-seated position most daily activities occur – eating, writing and grooming. As a result, tables are low (12-13 inches) and chests, know as tansu, sit directly on the floor. Made up of a combination of drawers and sliding doors, tansu were designed to accommodate a variety of different uses. For example, and ishodansu stored kimono, a chobadansu stored documents while a chadansu stored implements for tea ceremony and a kodansu was used as a writing desk and secretary. While the size and positioning of the doors and drawers vary among these different tansu, they hold in common clean lines and asymmetry. With a focus on utility, many of these chests are stackabl
