Amazing wooden Gifu chôba’dansu 帳場箪笥 (merchant's document cabinet) with sturdy iron hardware and a well-hidden secret compartment. Fully restored, cleaned and waxed. Made of indigenous sugi (cedar) and hinoki (cypress) wood varnished in a sought after warm brown hue, that we like to call ‘golden oak’. Configured with a pair of sliding doors, eight drawers of different size and a rare thin hinged door heavily clad with iron hardware. The door opens to two small drawers and behind the lowest a small compartment is ingeniously hidden. When this drawer is removed, you need to take out a panel on the right side. Only then can the secret container be pulled out with the aid of a short string. Four drawers in the lower area are protected by a vertical safety bar. The sliding doors are equipped with a Japanese sliding lock, the drawers with sturdy iron ‘hirute’-shaped bail handles, and the ‘rectangular’ lock plates finished with circular appliques and knobs formed as raised chrysanthemum flowers. The sliding doors and sides of the cabinet fitted with solid horizontal bars. The drawers and sliding doors run very smoothly. The cabinet has a lot of volume for easy storage. The sides of the top with two retractable ‘pole carrying’ handles for easy transport. This type of cabinet originates from the Gifu prefecture (central Honshu). The chôba’dansu is in a very good restored condition. Please see the photos for a condition reference. No keys included. Dimensions: Height 99.6 cm, Width 93.2 cm, Depth 53.2 cm. Chôba’dansu: These chests were used by chōnin (merchants) on the choba (raised platform area of a shop) to store daifukucho (account books) and related business materials. These chests come in many sizes but are usually of only one section with numerous compartments and a wide variety of interior configurations. If visible to the customer, the face wood and hardware could be of high quality to convey a favourable impression. (From Wikipedia) When shipped we will add a certificate of authenticity.