The variety show "Kaiun! Nandemo Kanteidan" (TV Tokyo, Tuesdays at 8:54 PM), hosted by talent Koji Imada, freelance announcer Akira Fukuzawa, and former Sakurazaka46 member Yuka Sugai, featured a "small demon sculpture that was said to have been made by art teacher Tanaka" in its May 12th broadcast.
The treasure is a small wooden carving of a demon, 7.5 centimeters tall. About 25 years ago, the client's father, who was managing a student dormitory, found a plastic case labeled "Teacher Tanaka Demon" while helping the dormitory mother move. When he asked the dormitory mother about it, she said, "I don't need it, so please throw it away. If you want it, you can have it."
Upon closer inspection, I was astonished by how magnificent the sculpture is. I want to confirm whether it might be the work of the master artist Denchu Hirakushi, whose name is written as "Tanaka" but pronounced differently.
The client had valued the artwork at 300,000 yen, but the appraisal result came in at 1,500,000 yen, much to the delight of the client who applauded. Toshiyuki Okuma, a part-time lecturer at Nihon University Graduate School who conducted the appraisal, commented, "It is authentic. It is probably one of the earliest existing works by Tanaka. The reason I can say with certainty that it is a work by Hirakushi Tanaka is that there is actually one similar piece in the Hirakushi Tanaka Museum. I heard that he made two pieces in his hometown of Fukuyama and gave one to a friend. This is probably the other one. It was made when he was in his early twenties, making it an extremely valuable piece."
