We feel it’s necessary to set the record straight on the Korean staircase. Indeed, numerous posts on our group as well as the regular presentation of this type of furniture and their erroneous descriptions in auctions or galleries lead us to settle this case once and for all.

Here are just a few examples with their descriptions.

Korean step tansu chest made of elm wood. This is an antique piece circa late 19th century, not a modern reproduction. It is reversible with hardware on each side, so it will fit most rooms, and can be used in open space. It comes in 3 pieces for easy movement. Include certificate of authenticity. 58″ wide, 17″ deep, 60″ high. From Modern to Vintage & Design.

 

Korean Tansu cabinet. From sale platform.

Korean step chest purchased in Itaewon, Korean 20 years ago from an Antique store.
Access to drawers and cabinet sections from both sides. Chest is four pieces, easy to move, can be set up 2 ways for use.

Korean Tansu step chest early 20th century, elm with large hand beaten iron, fittings, four piece, height 164 cm, width 150 cm, depth 45 cm. Carter’s price guide to Antiques. This item has been included into following indexes: Korean furniture.

 

Below is an extract from the publication “Japanese cabinetry” the art & craft of tansu by David Jackson and Dane Owen.

The step chest has been classified in the section Kitchen cupboards.

The “Kaidan dansu” (step-chest) or Hako kaidan (box stairs) may well have been invented around the same time as the Mizuya”. It is a compelling design, providing both storage space and access to an upper story or loft.

Kaidan dansu were freestanding staircases, often made in two or three stacking sections with compartments secured by doors; this type of drawer storage was not only a cabinet but also an architectural statement.

In their infancy, kaidan dansu could have been built by carpenters, but the design is really about utilizing compartments for furnishings and architectural space under the stairs for storage. Carpentry, on the other hand, was a specialized profession, with a rigid structure and tradesman’s rules; thus, it is difficult to believe that a carpenter stepped out of this discipline and created the step chest. Rather, it is thought that the joiner was the craftsman who likely saw a need and filled it.

Step chests most likely originated where “Kura” (masonry storehouses) were first built, for these were some of Japan’s first two-story buildings. Commercial and bustling castle towns such as Kurashiki, salai, kanazawa, Osaka and Edo had row after row of “kura”. they were expensive buildings, and kaidan dansu were not cheap to build.

While the Edo period restrictions forbade most two-story housing, especially for commoners, attics and loft places nonetheless sprang up. Indeed, in these crowded urban centers, often the only way to expand a structure was to build upwards.

 

 

 

Kaidan tansu depicted in woodcuts of the18th -19thcentury (Japan)

 

 

Interior of an old Japanese traditional house.

 

ORIGINAL KAIDAN TANSU.

This chest drawers in the form of a stairway (Kaidan Tansu) during Edo period (H208cm,W60cm, D137.5cm), and could be displayed separately in two parts.

Private collection.

 

Kaidan tansu. H. 199cm, W. 145cm, D. 74cm. Meiji period, Japan. Collection “Apologia”, Tokyo, Japan.

Kaidan Tansu (Chest of Drawers in the Form of a Stairway). Edo period to Meiji period. 19th century. Collection Brooklyn Museum.

 

CONCLUSION.

Kaidan Tansu” staircase furniture is definitely of Japanese origin.
In most cases, the traditional Korean house did not have an upper floor or loft. In Japan, however, they did.

The term “Kaidan Tansu” is Japanese anyway. Kaidan meaning staircase and Tansu meaning chest in Japanese.

The reason for this confusion is that, in the mid-20th century, the Koreans began producing staircase furniture for export. Compared with their own traditional furniture, the very popular staircase furniture offered many advantages in terms of design and functionality.

However, there are a number of details that distinguish them from each other:

The original Japanese pieces were very high and deep. Height averaged around 2 meters, and depth between 60 and 75cm.
Their hinge decoration was minimal, usually in black iron.

Placed against walls, they opened on one side only.

Pieces made in Korea were smaller and often much lower. Overall height 170cm. Their depth rarely exceeded 45cm.

In most cases, they could be opened on both sides, allowing them to be placed in the middle of a room.

They were often decorated with numerous metallic hinges, often in yellow brass.

As for the woods used to build the Kaidan Tansu, it should be remembered that these were purely utilitarian pieces of furniture. For this reason, the choice was made for easily accessible and inexpensive species. In Japan, “Sugi” cedar from the “Cryptomeria Japonica” family and “Hinoki” cypress or “Chamaecyparis Obtusa” were widely used. In rarer cases, elm called “Keyaki” or “Zelkova serrata” could be included for the construction of small parts such as drawers.

As for the reproductions produced in Korea, the woods used were in most cases pine for the structure and elm for the panels. In the 1980s, in view of the high cost of wood, a new method of mass production was introduced to feed a growing market: the massive use of plywood covered with thin elm veneers.