🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (1)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (2)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (3)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (4)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (5)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (6)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (7)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (8)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (1)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (2)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (3)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (4)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (5)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (6)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (7)
🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow product image (8)

🎎 Antique Japanese dormitory key set - Yamada Room 5 | Japan Antique Roadshow

$58.00

🎎 This wonderfully evocative artifact is a pair of small, antique Japanese keys 鍵 (kagi), possibly once used for a dormitory room or company housing locker, dating from the mid-Showa 昭和 period (1950s–70s). The keys are attached via a simple cotton cord to a rustic wooden tag—cut from a larger piece and bevel-edged on two sides—bearing the faded number “5” and the handwritten name 山田 (Yamada) in sumi ink 墨. The tag’s natural grain and handwritten marks speak to a time when objects were both functional and deeply personal.

The keys, each about 4.5 cm in length, are basic iron types—likely made for simple, warded locks. The wooden tag measures approximately 7 cm by 4 cm. The total weight of the piece is around 20 grams. Though worn from decades of use, with scratches, nicks, and signs of oxidation on the metal, the item retains its full charm and speaks softly of the life it once served.

This could have belonged to a young office worker or student living in shared accommodations—perhaps one of the many company dormitories of postwar Japan, where new employees lived under the roof of the firm that hired them. Room number five. Yamada-san. A name and number still faintly visible, echoing a personal history now largely forgotten, preserved here in wood and metal.

Found in central Japan and curated in Shizuoka City, this piece is a deeply nostalgic and rare find—perfect for collectors of Showa-era relics, mingei 民芸 folk art, or those fascinated by the quiet ephemera of everyday life.

Embark with Kurt Bell, an American journeyman born in 1964, as he explores the gentle detritus of Japan’s past—sharing insights from Stoicism and his philosophical work "Going Alone". Each piece, like this humble key set, invites reflection on impermanence, memory, and the passing of time.

➡️ https://a.co/d/6SORY8N Get your copy of Going Alone at this link (the hardcover edition is recommended) 🤠🏜️☀️

🌐 Website: https://goingalone.org
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Quality Guarantee & Returns

  • Quality is guaranteed. If there is a print error or visible quality issue, we'll replace or refund it.
  • Because the products are made to order, we do not accept general returns or sizing-related returns.