Portable trunk (hasamibako) with three-leaf mallow crests on floral hexagon ground

This kind of portable trunk was used by upper-class families to transport clothing and other objects. Suspended from poles over the shoulders of footmen, such trunks were a common sight in the processions of provincial warrior lords (daimyo) traveling between their home domains and the administrative capital, Edo (now Tokyo).

A pair of hasamibako trunks was also part of the standard set of furnishings in an elite bridal dowry.

The three-leaf mallow (aoi) design you can see on the top and sides of this trunk is the crest of the Tokugawa clan-the family of the Shogun during the Edo period. Thus, this trunk was probably made for a relative of the most powerful warrior-class family in Japan.