Jack Zacao

Just to add 高瀨榮壽is a student of 泰山元孚

I also have doubts these belong to a set. The fuchi seems to be iron ground or looks different in material and quality than those of the kashira. Fuchi is definitely better and may be authentic

https://www.seiyudo.com/ko-041024.htm another example of his work

高瀨榮壽，he was pretty famous, but not sure if the work is authentic

upon further research , it is found that the 文殊四郎 family was famous in making kitchen knifes in the small city of Sakai which is a suburb of osaka. please read the following link (second paragraph) using google translate: https://www.lib-sakai.jp/kyoudo/kyo_digi/monodukurisakai/monodukuri_hotyo.htm

blade says 摂州文殊四郎包清 摂州 is location or 攝津國 which is today’s osaka 文殊四郎 is family name 包清 is name

Thank you all for the informative replies. I learned a lot. I am sharing another of my high quality piece, signed Hirata. I wonder what technique was used for the gold on shakudo. Is it inlay? the contour is very sharply defined but I do not see chisel marks.

Hi Charlie, I now realized I do have some menukis that have 高肉象嵌， but I have trouble distinguish 平象嵌 and 金袋着 or gilding. In the case of shishi menuki, do you mean the shakudo dots are inlays? i guess so because they can not be gildings…how about the gold color eyes?

Thank you Charlie for the info. I have not seen one with true inlays on menuki, but of course I am just a novice. The Tiger menuki I like the best is from Iwamoto : https://collections.mfa.org/objects/9808/pair-of-menuki-in-the-form-of-tigers?ctx=670ac707-7750-44fc-871e-06f418d308b9&idx=8 It is very detailed, even the furs on ears are carved. the size is only 3.3 cm

Hi Geraint, I do not think the gold stripes are inlaid. they are normally referred as ‘色繪’ which is a kind of gold gilding technique. Jack

Nice set. I have a single tiger menuki as well and like the design very much especially the cute eye brows. I have been wondering whether the gold paint is added after the chisel fur marks or before …

signature on fuchi seems to be 美春 he is a student of 石黑正美

I also like to browse menuki designs in museum collections online. the best site is MFA in boston. You can learn a lot by examining the high definition pictures and the artist name and schools. However, the museum collections usually focus on extrermely high quality and most of them are solid gold. it is beyond the reach of me. Does anyone know other good museum collections of menuki? other than MET, MFA boston ?

Hi Kai, a quick search would result in the following book: https://japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/book/fittings-books/b979-tosogu-no-bi-fine-Japanese-sword-fittings-menuki-i-ii-2-books/ it seems to be in english as well. others are mostly Japanese Jack

Thank you all for the comments and answers. It makes a lot of sense that it is for securing the menuki and was soldered on.