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Omori Fuchi Kashira - no papers, expensive, but well done


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The seller is matsu-kaze.Japan. 

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/SUPERB-Signed-OMORI-School-Wave-FUCHI-KASHIRA-18-19thC-Japanese-Edo-Antique/273489937627?

hash=item3fad4544db:g:cWkAAOSwVYtbsxud

 

With my amateur eyes, I see that it's really well made though the lack of papers and no refund policy is a bit concerning.

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I think that the listing is incorrect.  It's probably Omori Tatsunobu instead of Omori Tokinobu.  While he may be part of the Omori School, he's not one of the famous masters.  This Fuchigashira looks good for his work, but is not top Omori Master work.  Therefore, I'd say it was reasonable for what it is (not much reason to counterfeit his work).

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It's not policy here to comment on price I believe.

 

Omori is like Goto to me. It needs to be papered or you really need to know what you are doing with those schools to have a feel for the work. I like the set, well done. Agree with George M, not the high end of Omori, at least to my eye.

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In my opinion (for whatever it is worth...), I believe that it is a reasonable price for this set.  Here's my logic: Certified, top end Omori costs 5 figures globally (and sometimes even more in Japan).  While not top end, I think that this piece has better wave composition than many of the "Omori" wave tosogu that we see.  I feel it is a little contrived in places, but overall, the wave placement is pleasing and more random than most of the knock-offs.  The sea spray in this Tsuba appears to be of one-sized variety (instead of the preferable multi-sized spray), but it does not appear to be missing any of the inlay (which is fairly rare with these pieces).  Also, a lot of the middle and lower end stuff has too much sea spray for my tastes.  As I mentioned before, this artist is not particularly well-know, so the lack of papers is less of a concern (I know others always recommend papers, but I don't think that they would add much in this situation).  Finally, consider the amount of work in this piece - very deep carving, multiple completely cut through waves (and I believe that I see a little of the special Omori Makie-like gold dust treatment in the wave troughs). This fuchigashira would take a lot of time and effort to make.  Even if you could find a modern Tosogu-shi who could make this kind of work, I doubt that they would do it for anything close to this price.  I believe that one of our illustrious members (who deals in the finest quality nihonto and tosogu) wrote an excellent post about Omori waves tosogu a few years ago, and from what I remember of his post, he might not agree with me (search on the Board for "Omori Waves").  If I remember correctly, I believe that he advised against paying several thousand for non-masterpiece Omori waves that weren't papered, advising instead that we should save our money for the masterpieces.  Personally, I'd be very proud and happy to own this fuchigashira.

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Thanks for the reply Tanto, what you said makes sense to me. 

 

 If I remember correctly, I believe that he advised against paying several thousand for non-masterpiece Omori waves that weren't papered, advising instead that we should save our money for the masterpieces.  Personally, I'd be very proud and happy to own this fuchigashira.

 

Wouldn't papered masterpiece tosogu of any school cost much more than several thousand? The ones that I can find online are already sold with no price listed so I'm guessing it'd be around $10k or even more.

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Tatsunobu is correct, Haynes 9497, Wakayama - I - pg. 43

 

My two cents.  For this price it 'MUST' have at least Hozon paper.  Any self-respecting dealer, especially in Japan will provide this.  If not, gimei is implied.  Darcy had an NBTHK papered Teruhide F/K several years ago for ~$6500.  I've seen way too many gimei Omori wave pieces to have any trust in an un-papered one. 

 

BTW - There is one mei example in Wakayama - bottom left:

 

post-83-0-81868000-1574807514_thumb.jpg

 

Just my opinion.

 

PS:  If you are looking for 'Masterpiece' works yes, they would be 'Juyo' level and be tens of thousand of dollars, possibly more but that is not what we are looking at here. 

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Yes James, the dealer that I was referring to was recommending that we save our money and spend $10K or more on a masterpiece instead of $2-3K on a good piece.  In response to your other question, a "masterpiece" from one school or artist is not equal to a "masterpiece" from another school/artist.  For example, an Omori Teruhide (Eishu), Somin, Goto or Natsuo masterpiece could easily be $50K or more while papered "masterpieces" from lesser known makers can be had for $1-2K.  It may depend upon our definition of "masterpiece", but I'm using the definition of a really well made piece that "moves" you (i.e., great art).  Many undiscovered or under-appreciated artists have made a masterpiece or two that can be acquired very inexpensively (if you don't follow the crowd who require well known names or schools...)   Omori waves are one of the most desired (and therefore copied) motifs, and they have always commanded very high prices. 

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