Antiques & Treasures Galore
The joys of shopping at Japanese antique markets and shrine sales
I love a good flea market. We had a huge funky one on the weekends are our local Santa Cruz drive in and our family went on many a Sunday morning. I loved to see what is on offer, what junky stuff people are shedding, and what others find as treasures. From those When I first visited Japan I found the Oedo Antique Market at the Tokyo International Forum on a weekend and my mind was blown.
Whatever I thought I’d find at an antique market in Japan, I could never have been prepared what I saw there that first day. Some of the booths were so beautifully put together, with everything in it’s perfect place, that I hardly wanted to touch anything, much less buy anything. Other booths were stuffed with Kimonos, yukatas, old indigo and hundreds of meters of fabrics. On that first visit I bought a few boxes, some wooden cogs, a scrapbook of old chopstick holders, and a few things that I couldn’t even identify. But everything I bought was made with such care and attention to detail. I swooned much of my way through that first visit.
Beautifully organized market booth: May 2015
I didn’t want to touch anything! It was so perfect! The number written in chalk on the ground was likely their booth identification. Isn’t it cool how it looks so nice with everything else?
My first ever purchases from the Oedo Antique Market in May, 2015.
I didn’t know know what a few things even were, but everything was so beautiful and inexpensive! I probably spent about 6,000 yen ($60) for all of these gems. It took me three years to find out what the spoon looking wooden piece was in the center left. I brought it home to California and left it on the dinner table as a conversation piece.
Little did I know that one day I would actually live in Tokyo and discover there are shrine sales and antique shows all around Tokyo on almost every weekend. I still love the hunt. As I learn more Japanese, I can ask more questions, and I know what items are and have a better idea of their value.
Recently, I’ve been going to back to Oedo Antique Market to find old reproduction maps of Edo/Tokyo for an art project that I’ve been working on. I jumped on the Hibiya Line in Hiroo 10 mins from my house, exiting Hibiya Station on a quiet Sunday morning. But everything is bustling when I arrived at the outdoor setting of the International Forum in Marunouchi. Because of Covid, everyone gets their temperature taken, hands sanitized and masks on of course. Once you’ve got your wrist band, you can walk in and out of all of the roped off areas to see the nearly 100 booths with everything under the sun.
