Vintage Japanese Nambu Ironware Relief Racehorse Commerative Wall Hanging Plaque

Beautiful relief ironware casting with subtle, intricate portraits of three demur race horses at rest. The beautiful patina lends itself to the age and authenticity. There is a wire for hanging fastened to two eyelets cast into the back.

European format horse racing started in Japan in 1862 but horse racing goes back to the 8th century in Japan.

Nambu ironware has its roots in the production of pots for tea ceremonies in the Nambu domain (Iwate prefecture) in the mid 17th century. Morioka has long been an area suited for the foundry industry due to an abundance of iron resources so casters were invited to the Nambu domain in order to encourage casting production. In 1659,

This type commemoration Nambu ironware plaque celebrating famous horse racing champions appears around the turn of the century and carries on. These are fairly rare and I have only seen a couple examples in my research. I have seen a similar style plaque with a three horse head design (three different horses) on a Nambu ironware plaque dated to 1910 – 1930. This one has a Japanese character raised makers mark cast into the back. I don’t read Japanese but I included a photo of a rubbing I did from the raised makers mark.

Emperor Taisho, who ruled from 1912 to 1926, visited the Tohoku region in 1908 and had the eighth-generation Nizaemon Koizumi demonstrate the Nambu ironware production process for him. Today, all pieces produced in the Morioka and Mizusawa areas of Iwate prefecture are called Nambu ironware.