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  1. Schools
  2. Goto
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  4. Ichijo
  5. Yoshiteru

Ichijo Yoshiteru

義照

Jūyō
Vol. 35, No. 253 · Tsuba

Ichijo Yoshiteru

義照

4 ranked works

EraLate EdoSchoolGoto>Waki-Goto>IchijoTraditionIeboriTypeTosogu MakerCodeTOG001
4Jūyō Tōken

Overview

Tōgintei Yoshiteru, whose former surname was Nose, was born in Kyoto in Bunka 11 (1814). He first studied under Araki Tōmei, himself a disciple of Gotō Ichijō, before entering the school of Satō Tōhō. Upon establishing himself independently, Yoshiteru married into the Satō house, succeeding to its name and lineage. The Satō family maintained long-standing connections with the Fushimi-no-miya imperial-princely household and held the privilege of wearing swords — a distinction that naturally conferred an elevated social standing upon its members. Yoshiteru also employed the art names Kōfukutei and Tōgintei, the latter meaning "Pavilion of Eastern Chant," reflecting his personal devotion to yōkyoku (Nō chanting).

Yoshiteru's oeuvre is characterized by compositions of refined dignity executed on finely worked grounds in or silver. His preferred technique is — orderly high-relief carving raised from the plate surface — enriched with polychrome in gold, silver, , and hi-irodō. A painterly, sketch-from-life sensibility governs his compositions, whether depicting flowers and birds of the four seasons, autumn grasses with descending wild geese, water dragons, or the implements of Shiki Sanban Nō performance. Both the sumi-iri and forms appear among his , consistently finished with rims and demonstrating unmistakable Kyoto character in their carving.

The repeatedly identifies Yoshiteru's works as possessing a high sense of dignity in both design and technique, conveying throughout "an unmistakably Kyōto-style refinement and elegant taste." His pairs are cited as achievements that "fully reveal Yoshiteru's elevated technical accomplishment," with compositional sense and carving technique recognized as among the finest of his oeuvre. As a Kyoto metalsmith active at the close of the shogunate period, Yoshiteru occupies a distinguished position within the late tradition, producing works enveloped in what the designating body describes as "a clear, tasteful atmosphere."

Kantei

3 descriptive axes: material (the Goto-derived shakudo and silver grounds) x technique (takabori, the sukidashi-takabori relief, iro-e, applied suemon and inlay) x themes (the Noh and chant subjects tied to his go, the four-seasons flowers-and-birds, and the orthodox Goto dragon). No temporal phases: the small late-Edo-to-Meiji output is stylistically unified around a Kyoto refinement, with the kyo-fu manner as the recurring personal note.

Yoshiteru is a Kyoto metalwork artist of the late and early Meiji period, working in the Goto Ichijo line at one remove. His real name is Sato Yoshiteru; his original surname was Nose, and the records say he was born in Kyoto in 1814. The corpus traces his training in two stages: he first learned from Araki Tomei, himself a pupil of the Goto house's last great master Goto Ichijo, and then entered the school of Goto Kobun (the records also and more often name his study under Sato Toho); he became the son-in-law of Sato Toho and succeeded to the Sato house name. The Sato house had entry to the Fushimi-no-miya princely household and the privilege of bearing a sword, and from this courtly setting the records say his designs and carving carry a high dignity. He took the art-name Togintei out of his love for Noh chant, and signs Togintei Yoshiteru, or with the house name Sato Yoshiteru. He works the orthodox soft-metal grounds of his Goto-derived training, with and iro-e, and on his dai-sho he reaches to a silver ground with relief. His one persistent separator within the wider field is not a subject he alone owns but the Kyoto manner itself: the records repeatedly call his composition and chisel kyo-, the refined elegance of the capital. With only four pieces in the corpus, that Kyoto refinement and his Noh-derived go are the honest extent of what sets him apart.

Diagnostic discriminators

the records repeatedly call his composition and carving kyo-fu, the refined elegance of the capital (kyo-fu gashu ga michite iru on the four-seasons tsuba, ikanimo kyo-fu de on the mounting). As a Kyoto-based Goto-Ichijo-line artist his work is set apart from the dominant Edo machibori by this courtly Kyoto refinement, a register tell rather than a subject he alone owns. The comparand rate is art-historical inference, not a setsumei statement; almost everything else in his ground and hand is inherited Goto/Ichijo foundation. With only four pieces the corpus supports little beyond this and his Noh-derived go

Material

His constant ground is worked in fine , the orthodox soft-metal field of his Goto-derived training, often with the filled-back convention on the (the lesser of one pair fills the ). On his paired he reaches to a silver ground (gin-), and the metal palette for inlay runs to gold, silver, and copper-red (-do). on the mounting are solid gold. The metal choice serves the courtly subject and the refinement the records call kyo-.

Technique

His hand is relief with polychrome iro-e and applied (-), animated with flush inlay () and gold iro-e; are solid-gold . On the dai-sho he carves in , the relief raised from a scooped ground, with sharp square rims (). The records single out nothing as a technique he alone owns; the recurring praise is for the refined, dignified handling rather than a special chisel.

Themes

Three registers organize the small corpus, none of them a subject he alone owns. The first, tied directly to his go, is the world of Noh and chant: a dai-sho of the tools of the shiki-sanba (the auspicious three-part Noh opening), and on a mounting the Hagoromo (feather-robe) angel of Miho-no-Matsubara. The records say he took the name Togintei out of his love for Noh chant, and this is the one register that grows from his own person. The second is the four-seasons flowers-and-birds (shiki kacho), worked e-, like a painting, the manner the records say best shows his Kyoto taste. The third is the orthodox Goto dragon, a dragon leaping over Mt on a and a crawling dragon on the gold of his mounting (the latter judged in the early- Goto manner). One autumn piece of grasses and descending geese is composed shasei, drawn from life.

Noh and chant subjects (tied to his go Togintei)less firmly established

The tools of the shiki-sanba, the auspicious three-part opening of a Noh program, on a dai-sho in with - and iro-e, and the Hagoromo feather-robe of Miho-no-Matsubara on a of his mounting. The records say he took the art-name Togintei out of his love for Noh chant, so this register grows from his own person, the one closest to a personal mark in the corpus.

Four-seasons flowers-and-birds (his Kyoto-taste e-fu work)

The flowers-and-birds of the four seasons, and autumn grasses with descending geese, composed e- (like a painting) and shasei (drawn from life), in with and iro-e. The records say this naturalist, painterly mode best shows his persona and is full of Kyoto elegance, the register on which the kyo- praise rests.

The orthodox Goto dragonless firmly established

A dragon leaping over Mt on the larger of a paired , in silver with and gold iro-e, and a crawling dragon on the gold of his mounting, the latter judged to be in the manner of the early- Goto house. This is the inherited house subject, not a personal one.

Full iconography

Signature chronology

Placement
Recorded signatures

Documentary note

His pieces are signed Togintei Yoshiteru with a , the go Togintei taken out of his love for Noh chant, or with the house name Sato Yoshiteru on the lesser of a paired ; one title line writes the go in a variant form. Two pieces carry a Kyoto-residence or capital prefix: the long Raku-Osui-togan-kyo Togintei Yoshiteru (the dwelling on the east bank of the Kamo river in the capital) and a (Kyoto) Togintei Yoshiteru. One mounting is dated by year-mark to Meiji 3 (1870). Because the Sato house held entry to the Fushimi-no-miya princely household, the courtly dignity of his designs functions as an attribution support alongside the signature and the Kyoto refinement the records single out.

Scholarship

On the single sambaso Noh-tool tsuba (one setsumei only), the record traditionally holds that he took the art-name Togintei out of his love for Noh chant, and says his persona is vividly present in the piece, the subject and composition both outstanding. It is one hedged, single-source notice, not repeated across the corpus.

Designations

Kokuhō—
Jūyō Bunkazai—
Jūyō Bijutsuhin—
Gyobutsu—
Tokubetsu Jūyō—
Jūyō Tōken4

Elite Standing

0.02 across 4 designated works

Top 32% among makers

Work Types

Distribution across 4 ranked works

Other
250%
Tsuba
250%

Signatures

Signature types across 4 ranked works

Currently Available

Ichijo School

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  7. 7.Koran光覧4designated
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  9. 9.Isshi一至6designated
  10. 10.Wada Isshin Masatatsu和田一真政竜1designated
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Yoshiteru

Yoshiteru(義照) was a maker of Japanese sword fittings (tōsōgu) of the Ichijo school, active during the Late Edo period.

The work follows the Iebori tradition.

Designated works by Yoshiteru include 4 Jūyō.