Kekkai or small tsuitate style standing screen for sencha tea ceremony in a radiating form. Of a large reishi tree fungus set on a polished, half-tree trunk base. Taisho – early Showa era, circa 1920 – 1930.

On the top side of the wood stand is an inscription: Sorachi-gun, Shimo Furano, Katsuyama Kanemon. Shimo Furano is a small town founded in 1915. It lies in the midst of the heavily forested mountains of Central Hokkaido, in the province of Sorachi, an administrative district established in 1869 by the Meiji government. This suggests that the reishi was collected in the old growth forests of the area in the early 20th century, and entered the collection of Katsuyama Kanemon.

This extraordinary reishi must have astounded collectors of sencha tea related objects. Of amazing size, with a beautiful radiating structure framed by small cloud-like branch fungi, it suggests an image of the sun rising through clouds. Paintings of the rising sun were often displayed at New Years, auspicious reminders of renewal and the year to come. Given the associations of reishi with the mushrooms of immortality, one can imagine how extraordinary this kekkai must have seemed.