This is a very interesting and beautiful kozuka that the NBTHK has attributed to the Yoshioka school of the Edo period (late 17th century). The design is a simple yet elegant one. The background of the obverse is executed in the finest of shakudo nanako showing the skill of the maker. The size and spacing of the individual nanako are so small and so skillfully made that it takes a magnifying lens to really show the separate strikes of the punch forming each individual nanako. The design on top of the nanako is that of three mirrors with the outside two done in elaborately decorated gold and the center plain one done in shibuichi.
The gold mirror on the left of the kozuka (the one nearest the opening for the kozuka blade) is decorated with carvings of bamboo and pine. There are also two kanji carved which read Tensho, the era starting in 1573. The gold mirror on the right seems to be a carving of a door pull with a floral design and a delicate rope attached in its center. In sharp contrast to these two delicate and intricately carved is the center mirror of solid form that has been made in shibuichi.
This kozuka was submitted to the NBTHK in 2012 and they attributed it to the Yoshioka school of fittings makers. This is an excellent school with a highly prestigious reputation. Interestingly, however, the NBTHK gave almost no information and description of this kozuka, not even describing the motif in any sort of detail. The translation of the papers is as follows:
This is where it gets really interesting, after purchasing this kozuka, the prior owner found a book called Gotô Ke Kozuka Sensû, (A Selection of Gotô School Kozuka), that contains this very kozuka. This book was written by Yagi Akira and Ushikubo Moriji. They attribute this kozuka to the Gotô school and more specifically they feel it was the work of the 10thgeneration mainline master Gotô Renjô (1688-1704). Below is the excerpt of the page from the book and a translation of the write-up of this kozuka:
This is a very interesting situation. This is like having a sword that is unsigned with two sets of different papers. In this case, either attribution is a good one as far as the quality or the work of this piece is concerned. I tend to favor the latter assessment of Yagi san and Ushikubo san that this work is by the Gotô school and probably by Gotô Renjo. They certainly seemed to do a more intense study of this piece and while the NBTHK shinsa team most certainly has a good general knowledge of various schools of sword fittings, these other two gentlemen evidently have an in-depth knowledge of the Gotô school and their various artists.
Either way, there is no dispute that this is a lovely and exemplarily piece of artistic work that would enhance any collection. It is almost like getting two for the price of one.
$2,000.00
