Five wooden cups by Aomine Shigemichi I

Five plain wooden cups, each of rounded shape and with plain sides. The five different kinds of wood used in the cups are respectively zelkova, teak, rosewood, walnut and makore (also known as a cherry mahogany, a western African hard wood). The five cups are contained within their original wooden storage box, tomobako, which has an inscription on the outside reading Mei ki no sakazuki (mokuhai), Aomine Shigemichi saku (wooden sake cups, made by Aomine Shigemichi) and a tree shaped seal.

Aomine Shigemichi I was born in 1916 in Kagawa. He studied under Genichiro Inokuma. His first solo exhibition took place at Maruzen Nihonbashi in 1954. That year he received a prize from the Asahi Shimbun Company. He died in 2001.