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Item No. TSU-3042 水戸住 一勇斎 元徳(花押)
Design Setsugetsuka, the Beauty of Nature in the Four Seasons
Mei Ichiyusai Motonori(with Kao)Resident of Mito
Material Iron and copper with gold and shibuichi inlay
Region Mito, Hitachi Province
Era Bakumatsu Period (End of Edo Period)
Box Custom made paulownia box
Size
Height
6.95 cm (2.74 in)
Width
6.69 cm (2.63 in)
Thickness
0.36 cm (0.14 in)
NBTHK Certification
Status Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu
Certification Date April 15, 1997
Price Reserved
Other Info
Ichiyusai Motonori [一勇斎元徳] was a member of the Taizan [泰山] school. He was a Mito metalworker from the end of the Edo period to the early Meiji period. According to a metalworkers dictionary [金工辞典], he is a disciple of the second Motozane [元孚], but this work is a novel and eccentric design. The plain copper sekigane above and below the hitsu-ana hole, called "Kuchibeni[口紅lipstick]," was clearly in the style of the Toryusai [東龍斎] school founded by Tanaka Kiyotoshi [田中清寿], who was all the rage in Edo at the end of the Edo period, and is reminded of the Toryuusai school's senior disciples (Toshikage [寿景] and Masakage [政景]). There is no documentation that Motonori studied under the Toryusai school, so I look forward to further research. It was mentioned in the book of "Hagane and Irogane - Swords and Sword Fittings of Ibaraki [鋼と色金-茨城の刀と刀装具]." It has passed the Tokubetsu Hozon Tosogu shinsa in 1997.