🎎 Antique Japanese Bamboo Mushikago (Insect Cage) – Mid‑Showa Folk Craft
This classic mushikago (虫かご) hails from the mid-Showa era, a time when children across Japan spent their summer days roaming fields, forests, and schoolyards in search of insects to observe and care for. With slats made from natural bamboo and a frame of unfinished wood, this insect cage is a tactile slice of postwar Japanese childhood.
The top lid slides open easily to reveal a compact interior once home to cicadas, grasshoppers, or rhinoceros beetles (kabutomushi). Ventilated and lightweight, these cages were simple yet essential tools for exploring the miniature world—and this one still holds the spirit of that gentle curiosity.
The only flaw is the absence of the small bamboo pins that once secured the wooden base to the cage frame—an easy-to-restore detail that doesn't detract from its charm or display value.
📏 Product Details
• Approx. 12 cm (W) × 7.5 cm (D) × 6.5 cm (H)
• Weight: 40g
• Materials: Bamboo (slats), unfinished wood (frame)
• Lid: Sliding wooden top
• Era: Mid-Showa (c. 1960s–70s)
• Condition: Very good vintage; missing bamboo pins at base, minor wear consistent with age
• Use: Once a live insect cage, now perfect as nostalgic decor
Collected and curated in Shizuoka City by softypapa, this humble wooden cage tells a quiet story—of bug hunts, sun-dappled adventures, and the lasting beauty of childhood spent outdoors in the golden age of Showa Japan.
Out of Stock
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.