The elderly couple on this red lacquer cup represent longevity and conjugal harmony. They are Jō and Uba, who after a long and happy marriage came to dwell in spirit form in two ancient pine trees – one at Takasago in Hyōgo and one at Sumiyoshi in Osaka. According to a Nō adaptation of the legend by Zeami Motokiyo (1363–1443), the pair are reunited on moonlit nights at Takasago Beach. Despite their age, they greet one another exuberantly. The meeting was a popular subject among print artists, including Katsushika Hokusai. In this composition, the couple appear in takamakie (lacquer in high relief ) surrounded by symbols of longevity such as cranes and seaweed-covered tortoises. The figures hold a broom and rake for sweeping the needles of the pine tree, which remains evergreen even in the harshest of winters.

Envoys of Shimazu Tadayoshi of Kagoshima (1840–97) brought this dish to Britain in 1865 ‘as a sign that … cause for enmity was removed’. Conflict had erupted between the Satsuma domain and British forces two years previously, after the Japanese failed to pay reparations for the murder of an Englishman, Charles Richardson, at Namamugi near Yokohama. According to a note received by Sir Charles B. Phipps, Queen Victoria’s unofficial private secretary, ‘it was the custom in Japan, when peace was made between persons who had been at enmity and had fought, for the vanquished person to offer a bowl to his adversary’. The cup is an oversize sakazuki (cup for saké). Queen Victoria was in Coburg for much of the envoys’ visit, so the vessel was delivered to the Foreign Office for safekeeping. It was probably presented by Matsuki Kōan (1832–98), who had been taken captive by the British during the 1863 conflict. He subsequently led a group of 15 Satsuma students who travelled illegally to Britain to learn from their recent adversaries.

Text adapted from Japan: Courts and Culture (2020)