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This little statue (185mm high) which I believe is ivory has been in my family for many years.Any information which I could get about it, especially in respect of the character,region of origin, age and signature would be most appreciated. Apologies if you also see this on Message Board, I meant to put it on Forum.

This is a japanese ivory of Raiden the thunder god with his thunder drum and bag of lightening... you can tell because the villager below is in the traditional japanese posture for avoiding lightening (backside in the air!!)
Lovely carving circa 1890-1900.
Possibly tokyo area.
Worth good money...

The carving appears stylistically to be Japanese, and the inscribed mark on a red field (shown upside-down) looks to be �V�� (�䂫�Ђ�- Yukihiro). This is an 'unclassified' personal name, meaning it is not designated exclusively for use as either a surname or a given name.

I'm unsure of what the figure represents. It looks like a demon (oni) and is standing over another smaller demon. The demon queller is named Shoki and usually is shown in human form with a red windblown beard. I'm not up to speed on this area of Japanese mythology but would venture a guess if this is not an oni, then perhaps it is a hungry ghost (gaki) standing over its next snack.

Possibly of the late years of the Meiji period (endured from 1868-1912).

Good luck,

Bill H.

Thank you both for your very helpful information, from what you have given me I have been able to follow up more detail about this mythical figure. From what I have read Raiden (Raijin) is frequently depicted as a demon. Folk belief has it that his demon companion Raiju hides in people's navels during thunder storms and he tries to drive him out with lightening. For this reason superstitious people sleep on their stomachs during storms. The figure at the bottom may be a villager who is on his stomach to protect his navel. I can see also Bill that Yukihiro is a fairly common Japanese given name so no more info about the artist at the moment. I knew I had a 50-50 chance of taking the photo of the signature the right way up at least now I know.Thanks again to both of you it is so interesting to finally know that its something more than just a carving and that its also good quality work.

easily worth £500-£1000 of anyones money...
However I would hang on to it for a while as ivory carvings are rocketing in value..
Recently saw a (very) small ivory carved (and damaged)buddhist stupa sell in auction for over £500 and it was estimated at £20-£30 !!
Seems like all materials in short supply are going up ...Ivory, jade,amber and tortoiseshell all raising in value...

Thanks Peter, its good to know his value, I was guessing about half of what you said. I plan on keeping him as I quite like him now I know about his character.

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