NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis tsuba is a work based on the "Gansho" (Goose Letter), an ancient Chinese legend in which a wild goose acts as a messenger carrying news from a distant land. It is based on the historical anecdote that when the Zenkan general Su Wu was held captive in the northern lands, he tied a letter reporting his safety to the leg of a wild goose heading south to inform the emperor of his home country. The maker is Katsurano Sekibun, who was born in Echigo no Kuni Murakami in Kansei 2, studied under the Hamano family in Edo, and later served the Dewa Shonai Sakai family. Likely having a private admiration for the Shonai predecessor Tsuchiya Yasuchika, he specialized in tetsu-ji and mastered the technique of takabori zogan with sharp carving, depicting a powerful scene. The flowing river surface is carved with a combination of strong katakiribori and sukibori, which were Sekibun's specialties, and the dense ishimé-ji applied to the ground is perhaps autumn mist, a design intended to appear as if floating out from the rising fog. As known from the fusuma-e painted by Oguri Sokei and the Ashigan-zu tsuba by Tsuchiya Yasuchika, wild geese in a reed bed is a motif with a Zen flavor that has been favored by Japanese bushi since the Muromachi period, and the composition consisting of both elements expresses the Japanese view of nature.
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As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Machibori · Dewa · around 1670
5 pieces on the market now
Katsurano Sekibun, who employed the art name Yurakusai, was born in Kansei 2 (1790) at Murakami in Echigo Province. As a young man he traveled to Edo and studied under the Hamano family, acquiring the foundational discipline of that distinguished lineage. From his adoption of the art name Yurakusai, it is further conjectured that he undertook training in Kyoto, broadening his technical and aesthetic formation beyond a single school. In Bunsei 7 (1824) he entered the service of the Sakai family of Shonai domain as a retained artisan (kakae-ko), and from Koka 2 (1845) onward he settled permanently in Tsuruoka, where he continued to work until his death in Meiji 8 (1875) at the remarkable age of eighty-seven. For his inscriptions he used a distinctive cursive hand modeled on the calligraphic style of Kameda Bosai, the celebrated scholar of his native Echigo.
Sekibun devoted himself to the study of Tsuchiya Yasuchika, refining his skills with that master's example as his ideal, and produced an oeuvre in which tsuba are especially numerous. For the ground metal he frequently employed iron and shakudo, and he "excelled especially at applying iroe to a style of strongly modeled high-relief carving." His technical repertoire further encompassed sukidashi-bori, katakiribori, nikuai-bori, and various forms of zogan (inlay). Among pictorial subjects he favored animals and birds, with tigers and newts (imori) counted as particular strengths. His celebrated "Dawn Crow" (Akegarasu) tsuba, conceived as the sky at daybreak with suaka ground and shakudo suemon-zogan crows beating toward the sun, is singled out by the NBTHK alongside his octagonal newt-design tsuba as among his finest achievements.
The NBTHK consistently characterizes Sekibun's work as possessing a "high degree of refinement" in both composition and carving method, praising his "compositional command and carving skill" as "truly superb." His productions are recognized for their distinctive vitality -- an intensity of expression deemed "indeed characteristic of Akafumi" -- realized through the full mobilization of a wide range of carving methods together with inlay and polychrome metalwork techniques[[c:2]]. Whether working on intimate tsuba or ambitious multi-component soroi kanagu such as his Twelve Zodiac fitting set, Sekibun's works are commended as fully demonstrating the "sharpness of the maker's abilities[[c:3]]," securing his place as one of the most accomplished provincial metalworkers of the late Edo period.
Where Sekibun stands among comparable artisans: across all of nihontō, and within tradition, era, and period. The tiers (Foremost · Leading · Major · Notable) weigh official designations from the NBTHK and Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs, together with historical honors of lasting repute such as the Sansaku and Meibutsu-chō.
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Machibori · Edo
32 pieces on the market now
The Hamano school of machibori carving was established in mid-Edo Edo by Hamano Masazui (浜野政隨), commonly known as Tarōbei, an exceptionally gifted pupil of Nara Toshihisa. As the Edo Kinkō Meifu states of him that he "thunders through the world," Masazui won widespread renown as one of the "Four Guardian Kings of Nara" (Nara Shitennō). Training many disciples and employing numerous art names—including Otsuryūken, Aji-zumi, Kankei, Rifūdō, Yūkotei, Shūhōsai, Hankei-shi, and Isshunan—he formed what came to be known as the Hamano school, establishing one of the principal lineages of machibori artistry and founding an independent house. " Works are rendered by means of yōbori (sculptural carving) upon varied grounds—gold-and-silver imo-tsugi-ji, solid gold (kinmuku)—with details frequently treated in the in'yō-kon mode, suggesting the early Gotō masters as models.
The carving is executed with "ample, well-judged volume (nikudori)" and "exceptionally full, weighty presence," while applied metal (okigane) in silver and shakudō with shakudō iroe tightens pictorial fields and imparts additional movement. Later Hamano artists such as Katsurano Akafumi maintained this technical versatility, favoring polychrome inlay applied to high-relief compositions. " The NBTHK repeatedly notes that works "clearly demonstrate the high level of technique," "amply demonstrate advanced technical mastery," and possess "a composed dignity"—attestations to the school's sustained excellence across generations and its enduring place within the broader machibori tradition. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Shozui政随 | — | 17 |
| Sekibun赤文 | 1670 | 8 |
| Noriyuki矩随 | — | 4 |
| Naotoshi直寿 | — | 0 |
| Naoharu直春 | — | 0 |
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