NihontoWatchNihontoWatchIntroduction Araki Tōmei (1817-1870) was a famous Japanese metal artist who made sword fittings. He was born in Kyōto in 1817 as the son of a rice trader. Born in the year of the ox, it was a custom for Japanese families to give such boys away to another family, so the rice business went to his younger brother. Little did he know, the art world was going to be better for it. At age 13, he entered an apprenticeship with Gotō Tōjō (東乗) of the Kyōto-based Kenbei line of the famous Gotō metalworkers. Later, he entered an apprenticeship with Gotō Ichijō, one of the best metal workers of all time, who worked directly for the shōgun and imperial family. Araki became very famous for his highly realistic three-dimensional representation of millets, for which he used special tools he made himself. He was a friend of the famous painter Hayashi Ranga with whom he studied painting. References Markus Sesko; The Japanese tōsō-kinkō Schools. Lulu, Inc. 2012. Page 81-82. Darcy Brockbank; Description of a fuchi/kashira by Araki Tōmei. Araki Tōmei was one of the best of his time and is a highly sought-after maker by seasoned collectors. We mainly find boxed (unmounted) sets with menuki, kozuka, tsuba, etc. Among those, the ones made with a shakudō base are the most common, iron ones much less so. Complete koshirae sets mounted with an en-suite set of his fittings, like what we have here, are almost unheard of. This set A complete wakizashi koshirae with fuchi, kashira, menuki, tsuba, kōgai, kozuka, kurigata, and kojiri. All pieces are on an iron base, except the kurigata and kojiri which are made of shakudō with nanako finish, and the menuki which are solid gold. The designs on all pieces are finely executed millets in gold in the exceptional detail that Araki was known for. The reverse of the kōgai and kozuka are finished with gold with simulated wear. Tsuba, fuchi, kōgai and kozuka are all visibly signed with his typical signature: Ginshōtei Tōmei (吟松亭東明). The kojiri is only signed Tōmei (東明) as part of the design. The other parts are most likely also signed, but the signatures cannot be seen in the current configuration. The set is mounted on a wakizashi koshirae consisting of a ray-skin wrapped tsuka with finely braided lavender-colored silk. The ray-skin has the large "imperial" nodes that were highly prized in Japan at the time. The dark green lacquered saya is decorated with sparrows, the work is very skillful and tasteful. Everything is in near-perfect condition. The koshirae comes in an old Japanese box, with the writing: ⻘貝金蒔絵 将軍型御太刀掛 柱壱 Aogai kin-makie Shōgun-kei on-tachigake Jūichi "Mother-of-pearl and gold makie décor Shōgun-type tachi stand One stand" That must have been one nice stand! But clearly, the box was repurposed. It also comes with an old frayed silk sword bag with purple cord. Tokubetsu Hozon The set was awarded Tokubetsu Hozon papers, dated January 17, 2014. Wakizashi-koshirae featuring saya lacquered to imitate bronze and with makie décor of sparrows, (mounted with en suite fittings by Ginshōtei Tōmei) Fuchigashira depicting millets and unhulled rice, signed: Ginshōtei Tōmei + kaō (吟松亭東明「花押」) Menuki depicting millets. Tsuba depicting millets and unhulled rice, signed: Ginshōtei Tōmei + kaō (吟松亭東明「花押」) Kozuka and kōgai depicting millets and unhulled rice, signed: Ginshōtei Tōmei + kaō (吟松亭東明「花押」) Kojiri depicting millets, signed: Tōmei (東明) Hilt covered with white same and wrapped kumiage style with purple jabara braid. According to the result of the shinsa committee of our society, we judge this work as authentic and rank it as Tokubetsu-Hozon Tōsōgu. -Translation by Markus Sesko It needs mention that the shakudō kurigata is not mentioned on the papers. It closely emulates the style of Tōmei but may well be by a different maker, hence the omission. Known works The Metropolitan Museum has a set of sword fittings with gold on an iron ground. Accession number 17.208.32a–e, .42. It was presented to the museum in 1917. The Art Institute of Chicago has a set of round solid gold millet menuki, accession number 2013.1155a-b. A large set for a daishō was collected by Mitsumura Toshimo, and now in a private collection. It was exhibited in the Osaka Museum of History in 2018. The Shusui Museum of Art has a shakudō tsuba and two kashira in the same material. See the collection. Sold pieces As they are rare, they don't come onto the market a lot. Here some recently sold sets I could find: 1998, Christies. A set of fuchi and kashira (ferrule and pommel), lot 563, which went for $7,475. 2010: Bonhams. Set of menuki in their Fine Japanese Art sale of 2010, lot 58, which went for £10,000. 2012: Christies. A set of gold menuki in their The Japanese Aesthetic sale, lot 146, which went for £4,375. (This is the set that ended up in the The Art Institute of Chicago.) Galerie Zacke took a shot with an obviously fake set (look at the workmanship!) in their 2021 sale Asian Art Discoveries - Japanese & Korean Art, lot 52. Looking at the price, the bidders were smart enough. I found this too funny not to include it. Current on offer A set of Jūyō papered boxed mounts is currently on offer for 12.500.000 yen, equivalent to about €76.000,-. See Aoi Art. The same seller also has a set of kōgai and kozuka in shakudō with Tokubetsu Hozon papers for 5.000.000 yen, equivalent to about €30.500,-. See Aoi Art. Conclusion A possibly once-in-a-lifetime find. Normally we find loose sets, but here we have a complete set of mounts by Araki Tōmei in their originally intended configuration, showing how a full koshirae mounted with his mounts was intended to look like. Everything is high quality, from the ray-skin to the silk wrap, to the scabbard lacquer.
Offered by Mandarin Mansion
7 on the market
Gotō Araki Tomei
Edo
Kyoto
Signed
Tokuho (NBTHK)
Iebori · Yamashiro
7 pieces on the market now
Araki Tomei was born in Kyoto in Bunka 14 (1817). At thirteen he became a pupil of Goto Tojo, who allowed him the character To, and so he took the name Tomei. He later studied under Goto Ichijo, who granted him the workshop name Issai, and he signs Issai Tomei; he also used the art name Ginshotei. One record places him precisely in that circle as "a senior pupil of Ichijo, the grand master of the metalwork world of the bakumatsu"[[c:1]]. He also studied under-drawing with the Kyoto painter Hayashi Ranga, and the published sources say that his special subject, the ear of foxtail millet (awabo), was devised through study with Ranga, and that the millet already made him famous in his own day.
The millet ear is the whole of his reputation, and the published sources describe it with unusual precision. Each ear is built from seven conical grains forming a single cluster, the tips of the ears are sharp, and the ripe heads seem about to spill over on every side. On one wakizashi mounting they note that the grains run in three rows with the middle row raised a step higher, struck up in three dimensions with a special chisel driven into the metal. Of the daisho set raised to Tokubetsu Juyo they write that this abundance is "truly the essence of Tomei"[[c:2]]. Later records call it his sole domain. One observes that many millet works were made in imitation of the technique, "yet no master, however skilled, could reach Tomei's art"[[c:3]], and another states that among all metalworkers, as far as millet is concerned, "past or present, none equals Tomei"[[c:4]].
His material is the orthodox one of his Goto training. Most of his fittings are shakudo with fine nanako-ji, worked in takabori with iroe and applied suemon in gold and suaka, the kozuka often with a gold-covered back, the menuki in solid gold carved in the round. He ranges beyond it: a worked ishime on shakudo for the Tokubetsu Juyo set, suaka nanako on a tsuba and fuchi-kashira, and on one aikuchi mounting oborogin nanako, a metal the record calls difficult to work and the more precious for it. For larger tsuba he turns to iron, carving the millet under the rising sun on the large guard and under the evening moon on the small, with gold and silver sunago inlay suggesting haze. The published sources repeatedly find his training in the details: the shigure file on the rim and the ceiling plate of the fuchi is called "a skill handed down from his teacher Ichijo"[[c:5]], and the file on the ceilings and mouths of his fuchi-kashira is said to show the character of the Ichijo school clearly. Yet one record adds that, although transmitted as an Ichijo pupil, his work "differs somewhat in flavour from Ichijo"[[c:6]], and it is the millet that makes the difference.
Around the millet he builds the harvest field. Sparrows and quail peck at the ears, and beside them stand bird clappers, a torn sedge hat, a winnowing basket and a hand basket, so that a set of fittings suggests a whole rural scene. In the leaves he shows autumn: on one pair of fuchi-kashira the withering, colour-changing leaves are set in gold and suaka, and the stems and leaves move more than usual. A daisho pair of tsuba, called a late Issai-signed work, spreads a quiet morning across four faces, the sun rising through mist while sparrows and quail feed. A few pieces leave the millet entirely. On a daisho of shakudo given a surface "that could be mistaken for fine silk crepe"[[c:7]], he carved Mount Fuji with the star god of longevity on clouds and a moonlit mountain stream, each paired with a Chinese poem; and on a pair of fuchi-kashira he alluded to Daikoku and Bishamonten through their attributes alone. The published sources note that these are not his usual millet work, and praise the quality of the shakudo and the precision of the carving.
His signatures document the man. Most pieces read Issai Tomei or Ginshotei Tomei, each with a kao; on split menuki the two names are divided. A few carry his real name, Araki Hidenobu, cut in the abbreviated form 東明荒秀信, which the published sources call rare and valuable as documentary evidence. The Tokubetsu Juyo set bears both the Issai and the Hidenobu forms, and one pair of kozuka and kogai comes with a sealed letter in his own hand signed Ginshotei Tomei. One aikuchi mounting is dated on the fuchi, spring of Ansei 5 (1858). Many of his works are complete sets of matched fittings, often still on their original mountings, and one small sword mounting pairs his millet menuki and kozuka with maki-e by Shibata Zeshin. Another wakizashi mounting is described as "a refined wakizashi mounting in the true Kyoto taste, splendour and restraint well balanced"[[c:8]]. The records name no pupils of his own.
Tomei's record is thirty designated works, all at the Juyo rank, one of them, the millet daisho set, raised to Tokubetsu Juyo Tosogu. He has no National Treasures and no Important Cultural Properties. That Tokubetsu Juyo set is published in Tagane no Hana, kept in a box of the Ryushido collection, with a box inscription of Meiji 37 by Ikeda Takao, and three further pieces also come in boxes from the Ryushido collection. No current holder is recorded against his designated work. A private collector may meet a signed Tomei millet set from time to time rather than often, and one more record sums up what such a set should show: a work that realizes, "in the literal sense, 'Here is Tomei'"[[c:9]].
Where Tomei 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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Iebori · Kyoto
35 pieces on the market now
" Ichijo was the fifth-generation head of the Shichiroemon house, a cadet branch of the Goto family, and trained under Hanzaemon Kamejo before succeeding to the headship at fifteen. His imperial commissions -- fittings for Emperor Kokaku in 1824 and Emperor Komei in 1862 -- earned him the ranks of Hokyo and Hogen respectively, and his atelier in Kyoto attracted a circle of gifted disciples who extended his aesthetic into the Bakumatsu and early Meiji periods. Among them, the celebrated "Five Tigers" (Goko) -- Funada Ikkin, Imai Nagatake, Hashimoto Isshi, Nakagawa Issho, and Wada Isshin -- together with the master's younger brother Goto Koran, constituted one of the most prolific and technically accomplished workshops in the history of Japanese tosogu production. The collective technical identity of the Ichijo school rests upon a foundation of shakudo nanako-ji of surpassing fineness -- described as "minute and orderly, deep and limpid," meriting the appellation kinume-nanako -- upon which elaborate pictorial compositions are built through takabori enriched by polychrome iroe employing gold, silver, shakudo, shibuichi, and suaka. Ichijo himself established the artistic direction by shifting from the canonical iebori subjects of dragons and lions toward compositions centered on close observation (shasei), rendering grasses, flowers, insects, birds, and landscapes with meticulous carving and refined dignity. This painterly sensibility pervades the entire school. Nagatake brought a distinctive ornamental density, arranging seasonal plants across entire surfaces with richly varied colored metals.
" Ikkin developed an unrivaled command of kosuki-bori -- a bold, thick chiseling technique that even Ichijo conceded was "beyond my own reach[[c:1]]" -- and his dragon subjects carried a distinctive forcefulness. " Isshin absorbed the hereditary vocabulary while concentrating creative zeal into individual passages of invention, and Issho achieved works of luxurious, courtly elegance through refined kinu-nanako and precise kebori. Koran, working in a manner akin to his elder brother yet "finished with an even more delicate and nuanced sensibility," brought the Shichiroemon branch to its most accomplished expression. Across the school, the favored tsuba form is the sumi-iri mokko-gata, and many works exhibit chuya shitate -- "day-and-night" construction using contrasting alloys on obverse and reverse. Complete daisho soroe kanagu sets, coordinated around seasonal, auspicious, or literary-historical themes, represent the school's highest format. " This standard was transmitted faithfully through the circle. " The school's productions are consistently praised for an elevated, Kyoto-inflected refinement that balances splendor and restraint in just measure. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Goto Ichijo後藤一乗 | — | 91 |
| Tomei東明 | — | 30 |
| Nagatake永武 | — | 13 |
| Ikkin一琴 | — | 11 |
| Issho一匠 | 1828-1876 | 10 |
A Hozon-certified blade judged to show notably superior workmanship and a better state of preservation. The bar is higher: re-tempered blades and most unsigned Muromachi/Edo works are excluded.
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 site
Returns accepted on items ordered from the site when an item does not appear to be as depicted and described; buyer must notify via email within 7 days of receipt. Refund covers purchase price minus shipping, bank fees, and currency conversion. Sales on items paid in terms are final, as are sales of items personally inspected.
Price on request
Certificate reading — 銘 吟松亭東明（花押）