A SAKE GOURDJapan, Edo period (1615–1868) or Meiji era (1868–1912), 19th–20th century|The natural gourd carefully carved with insect damage and fitted with a bone stopper, one large and two small Chinese jade rings and a Chinese celadon-glazed peach-form drinking cupWith a double wooden tomobako storage box, the exterior of the outer box inscribed Iku senshū 幾千秋 (Many thousands of autumns), the exterior of the inner box with the same inscription, the interior of the inner box with a long inscription dated summer 1903 recording that the gourd once belonged to a Mr. Yanagihara 柳原 of Fukui in Echizen and was given the name Iku senshū 幾千秋. In March of the previous year, 1902, there was a great fire in Fukui during which the storage box for the gourd was burned to ashes but the gourd itself survived unscathed, fully justifying its name. 10 5/8in (27cm) high