Vintage, rare, possibly antique Japanese poetic diary box with sets of 200+ cards, hand painted and gold and silver leafed each within a textile wrapping.1 set depicts various Japanese poets, hand painted with haikus written on them in black ink, with gold metal leafed backing and edges.Other set is comprised of only black calligraphy with silver leafed blacking and edges.Comes in black lacquered wooden box, approximately 6 x 4 x 5.7 inches.Individual cards are approximately 3.25 x 2 inches. Textile bounds are approximately 4.5 inches tall.Moderate wearing to box, with loss to corners and edges. Moderate wearing to cards, with loss to leafing to backings and edges. Property of Manhattan estate, Asian artifacts collector and professor at private university in Japan. Japanese poetic diaries, hand painted haikus cards, haiku cards, hand painted cards, vintage Japanese decor, Japanese decor, Asian decor, Asian decorative arts, tabletop accessories and decor, vintage decor, Orientalism, orientalia, Hand painted haikus, Poetic Dairies. 12 LCPoetic diary, or Nikki bungaku, is a Japanese literary genre, dating back to Ki no Tsurayuki's Tosa Nikki, compiled in roughly 935. Nikki bungaku is a genre including prominent works such as the Tosa Nikki, Kagero Nikki, and Murasaki Shikibu Nikki. While diaries began as records imitating daily logs kept by Chinese government officials, private and literary diaries emerged and flourished during the Heian period (794?1192 AD).Japanese Poetic Diaries. Traditionally, composed of a series of poems held together by prose sections, the poetic diary has often taken the form of a pillow book or a travel journal. - wiki