A Japanese Export Silver Bamboo Pattern Flatware Service, Musashiya, Yokohama, Circa 1900

Yokohama opened as a designated Japanese treaty port in 1859. Businessman Ozeki Yahei set up an export operation shortly afterwards and by 1880 was one of the best known exporters. He enlisted his son Ozeki Sadajiro to manage the Yokohama branch, and he opened a retail store called Musashiya, for which he commissioned some of Japan’s foremost artisan silversmiths to design items in the Western Japonisme taste.