Toki Bookends from Takahashi Trading Company-San Francisco, circa 1960's

These are a pair of Japanese earthenware/ceramics bookends made in Japan in the 1960's then exported to San Francisco, California-USA for Takahashi Trading Company. The bookends/figurines are molded and hand-painted to resemble Persian Cats. The foot on both ends have holes and a stopper to fill with sand to weight down for larger books. Both come with purchase and each weighs 1 pound 2 ounces. The cat statues measure 8 inches tall and have a 4.25 inch by 3 inch foot. Excellent condition but does have "crazing" as well as a few very light stress cracks on base of feet. These are stress "crackles" and are clearly cosmetic and are by NO WAY structural. The rubber mats on the base with the original Takahashi stickers were in significantly damaged when we picked the item so we removed them. We found a a photo of the same sticker with ORM and included it in the item's photo gallery.

Takahashi Trading Company is a former Japanese-import home goods retail and wholesale business in the United States, and is the name of a 1912 warehouse building that once housed the business headquarters in the Potrero Hill neighborhood in San Francisco, California, U.S.. The business was active from 1945 until 2019, and had various retail locations nationwide. It was founded by the Japanese–American couple, Henri Takahashi and Tomoye "Tami" Takahashi whom during World War II were forced into an internment camp at the Topaz War Relocation Center in Millard County, Utah. While the Takahashi's were incarcerated they imagined creating an import home goods store.
After the Japanese surrendered in 1945, the Takahashi Trading Company opened on 1661–1663 Post Street in San Francisco's "Japan Town". It started as a small dry goods store and wholesaler. Many of the Japanese items imported to the United States for the business were handcrafted, or of high quality including ceramic (Toki) and porcelain (Jiki) folk arts and crafts, statuettes, tea ceremony accessories, dinner-ware, and vases. As a form of community service they obtained an export license to send care packages and pharmaceuticals to post-war Japan for the next 10 years.
In 1959 the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency seized their Post Street property, which was demolished in 1962 to create the Japan Center mall . The Takahashi Trading Company moved the warehouse to 200 Rhode Island Street in 1965. The five-story brick warehouse building was designed in 1912 by architect G. Albert Lansburgh for H. Levi & Co. It has a trapezoidal floor plan, designed to fit in the triangular parcel. It was once a former Western Pacific Railroad track that bisected the block.
In 1965, the 200 Rhode Island Street building officially became The Takahashi Trading Company. At Takashashi Trading Company's peak, they had retail stores nationwide, including at 57th Street in New York City and Bridgeway in Sausalito, California. They also branched out stores in their adopted demographic of San Francisco with a location on Grant Avenue at the corner of Geary Boulevard in Downtown San Francisco. The couple also added a location in Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco. Mrs. Takahashi had a sister named Masako Martha Suzuki. Masako joined the business and helped with the business operations. Suzuki occupied the 200 Rhode Island Street building until 2019, a few years after the death of Mrs.Takahashi. Since 2022, the warehouse building that was once Takahashi Trading Company has been cemented as a San Francisco Designated Landmark.
From 1985 to 2016, the Takahashi's operated the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, which supported numerous nonprofits in the United States that encouraged an understanding of Japanese culture and arts.

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