NihontoWatchNihontoWatchShibuichi kenma-ji tatemaru-gata katakiribori kin/suaka hira-zogan kakumimi-koniku ryohitsukon This is a very elegant tsuba featuring the "Chikuseki-zu" design by Sasayama Tokuoki. Tokuoki was born in Bunka 10 (1862) as the eldest son of the haikai master Yahantei Gogai, entered the school of Kawarabayashi Hideoki at age fifteen to train, and became a fellow disciple with Tenkodo Hidekuni. Tokuoki, who was equal to or better than Hidekuni, was recognized for his talent, married the second daughter of his master Hideoki, and established his own independent practice. Afterward, he received commissions for the carving of sword fittings for the Tokugawa Shogun family and for the tanto fittings of Emperor Komei, received the go of Ikkosai, and after the Meiji Restoration, he produced craftsmanship for Buddhist ritual implements, vases, plaques, and ornaments; excellent carved works by Tokuoki remain. This tsuba, produced in response to a request from someone, is a gentle and quiet work featuring katakiribori on a shibuichi kenma-ji; as expected of Tokuoki, each and every stroke of the chisel is precise and logical, resulting in a truly refined work without waste. The "Chikuseki-zu" has been depicted many times as a design in suiboku-ga and other arts. Tokuoki's challenge of the "Chikuseki-zu" contained within the small space of a tsuba is splendid. In a dedicated paulownia box
NihontoWatchOffered by Samurai Nippon
21 on the market
As written by the shop
Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors ·
Machibori · Yamashiro
21 pieces on the market now
The Otsuki school is a distinguished lineage of Kyoto kinko (metalworkers) whose production spans from the mid-Edo period through the Bakumatsu era, consistently identified by the NBTHK as one of the most eminent metalworking lineages of the capital. " The school also acknowledged its debt to earlier Kyoto masters, with the NBTHK detecting in Mitsuoki's modeling the influence of Umetada Myoju and in his pictorial conception the influence of Kaneie. The collective technical vocabulary of the Otsuki school centers on takabori iroe (high-relief carving with polychrome metalwork), deployed with a fundamentally pictorial intelligence that distinguishes it from most other metalworking lineages. Across multiple generations, Otsuki artists worked in katakiribori (single-chisel engraving), hira-zogan (flat inlay), sukidashi-bori (relief modeling from the plate), and fine kebori (hairline engraving), often combining several techniques within a single composition. A defining characteristic is the school's command of varied ground materials -- iron, shakudo, shibuichi, oborogin, brass, and even solid gold -- finished as migaki-ji (polished), nanako-ji (fish-roe stipple), arashi-ji, or ishime-ji, each selected to serve the pictorial demands of the subject. " In subsequent generations, Atsuoki demonstrated daring compositional arrangements while maintaining an unmistakably Kyoto refinement, and Hidekuni achieved effects of "keen sharpness and driving momentum" through masterful deployment of irogane alloys.
Across the school's output, compositions characteristically make effective use of generous open space to achieve atmospheric depth, narrative pull, and a lyric quality that the NBTHK repeatedly identifies as distinctively Otsuki. The Otsuki school's legacy rests on its fusion of painter's sensibility with metalworker's discipline, producing works of a character at once bold and subtly graceful. " Atsuoki's commissions for both the Tokugawa shogunate and the imperial household -- including fittings for the wearing sword of the fourteenth shogun Tokugawa Iemochi and for Emperor Komei -- attest to the esteem in which the school was held at the highest levels of patronage. Hidekuni's later works exhibit "an airy and unconventional spirit" emblematic of Mitsuoki's own late manner, confirming that the school's aesthetic evolution was one of deepening refinement rather than mere technical inheritance. The NBTHK consistently positions the Otsuki school among Kyoto's most eminent metalworking traditions, and its members' works -- from Motohiro's ambitious narrative programs treating the Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido to Kaizan Oki's compositions of "elevated tone and dignity" -- constitute an essential chapter in the history of late Edo-period chokinshi artistry. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Tokuoki篤興 | 1813-1891 | 21 |
| Mitsuoki光興 | 1766-1834 | 13 |
| Hidekuni秀国 | 1670 | 8 |
| Oki/Masaoki/Minayama Oki応起 | 1670 | 7 |
| Harutsura春貫 | — | 6 |
Certifies a genuine fitting worth preserving: a correct signature, or, if unsigned, an identifiable era and school, with recognized artistic and craft value.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteFor one-of-a-kind items such as swords, sword fittings and antiques, other customers may be waiting for the item, so please contact us about a return within 3 days of its arrival and ship it back within 8 days. Refunds are made on the day the returned item arrives.
¥750,000