Beautiful Thick Antique Japanese Merchant Ledger with Rope Binding hand-painted valenting definitely they are early ones

definitely they are early ones though

There's a warm patina on the brass

with what looks like red here veering more toward an orange (the first image is the closest

I just love the stoic expression of the face of this little carved man

Beautiful Thick Antique Japanese Merchant Ledger with Rope Binding hand-painted valenting definitely they are early onesThis is a an old Japanase merchant ledger book that I believe would be known as a daifuku cho, with sumi ink characters on the front and back covers, handwritten tabs dividing sections, and many of its many many pages filled with ink writing. It is bound at the top with rope; I believe the binding would also be used for hanging it, as I understand it such that it and other ledgers could be quickly gathered up if there was a fire or emergency. Later