Q: Any info on the Kinko smith shoryuken or syoryuken?

[kaigunair]

Picked up a nice little kozuka from Ed's sale (cannot say enough good things about Ed and yakiba.com). Nice that it was papered too. http://yakiba.com/Kozuka_Hawk.htm

 

Many thanks to Morita-san who helped with the translation: 小柳軒　shoryuken or syouryuken

 

Problem is that this one is not listed in Haynes (their listings don't include character 小).

 

Would appreciate any info on the smith. Maybe ideas on school (looks a bit hamano to me...)?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Curran]

An interesting challenge.

 

Life is wicked busy at the moment, but this is worth stretching and taking a crack at as the week goes along. PM me if you don't get a response in the next few days.

We'll see what the library and my current level of reading Japanese can turn out.

[John A Stuart]

The problem is Shoryuken is a go used by a few artists. Masayoshi, Masayuki, Yoshikazu etc. Here is a kozuka signed just Shoryuken; http://yakiba.com/Kozuka_Hawk.htm with kao 花押. I guess there will be lots of checking. John

[Brian]

John,

Long day?

The one example you posted is the one he purchased and is asking about.

 

Brian

[kaigunair]

Yes, same kozuka. I can't find this artist in the haynes and I can't find the same name beginning with 小 under こ or し in the kinko meikan. The 3 vol wakayama has a different first character which is for a different artist under しよりゅう.

If there are book recommendations too, I'm always interested in expanding my library.

 

Thanks in advance all...

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Junichi

 

the kao reminds me of that of Haruaki Hogen, albeit with a minor difference and being somewhat stylised. That along with the Go which also shares some familial traits with Kono school suggest an avenue to explore.

[John A Stuart]

John,

Long day?

The one example you posted is the one he purchased and is asking about.

Yes, kanji coming out my yin yang, doing a fair bit of checking some obscure ones, frustrating at times . I wonder if it may be just an alternative go. So many X ryuken variations used by so many artists of so many schools, Mito, Bushu particularly. John

[kaigunair]

Thanks john for trying. Thanks Ford for the lead into the Hogen school. Will hit the books tonight for Hogen to see if there is any artist in that school who used something close. If not in the three references already mentioned, then perhaps the 7 vol wakayama.

 

Will report back.

[Curran]

Was going to hit the 8vol. Wakayama myself, and see if the Baur Collection or some of the other books didn't present a clue.

[Curran]

As John indicated, this one could lead several ways.

I thought I might come up with nothing.

 

However, see Haynes 09668.0 (Teruyuki).

Cross reference it to the Baur Collection and see the signature for Teruyuki on page 438 of the Baur collection.

Lower left hand corner signature example #556 of the fuchi/kashira depicted as D 918 (page 274)

 

The Teruyuki part doesn't help us much, but note the particular strokes of the "Shoryuken". His most rightward downstrokes are particularly long and end in a sharp looking right-thumbed fish hook barb. [i don't know how else to describe it]. I see this in Junichi's signature too, but maybe it is just my eyes. Otherwise, not much else in common.

 

I went through a few pages of other signature references in the B.C. signature photo reference and reviewed the signatures of about 150 other artists. While a few have the right hand downstroke long habit, none put that same sort of small right-hand fishhook barb that Teruyuki does and that I feel I see on Junichi's kozuka. Hardly conclusive, but best I've found in my first pass at it.

It is weak, but better than nothing. Will give it another try with further books tomorrow.

[kaigunair]

Wow, definitely was inspired by Curran's level of commitment!

 

Checked various school from Vol 2 and 3 of the Wakayama 8. Kono, Hamano, Iwamoto and a bunch of others I can't recall right now. What I learned is that while the kozuka itself is quaint, it ain't no masterpiece. I can't even place the school, since most of the examples in this book are so nice! The ground work on this kozuka is pretty plain in comparison.

 

Not much luck with the sesko books.

 

From the Baur Collection, I enjoyed flipping through all the pics. Again, couldn't really find a work that resembled this. Did find some other interesting items, but for a different previous post. Was a nice stroll, but again, realizing that if anything, the signature and kao on this kozuka is what is pretty nice/shows above average skill.

 

I decided to go through the entire Joly Kakihan. I definitely saw the connection Ford made to the Haruaki/Kono. What I think is unique in this kao is the two right most strokes. I only found a couple which seemed to have two longish strokes on the right side:

99 Masakiyo

299 Noritada

239 Shummei hogan

243 Soho

409 Tsunefusa

But alas, no real strong matches.

 

Going back to trying to kantei the piece itself and place it in a school, any ideas would be appreciated. I note that the shibuishi ground is pretty plain, but there is some carving and surfacing of "dots" to show hills. The main elements appear to be inlayed: the two branches to the right of the hawk do have branches of different colors (I'm thinking different metals, but could be that the patina is removed for the effect), and gold highlights on the branch, hawk (talons & eyes), as well as gold eyes for the sparrow. Its nice enough that I would have thought the artist would at least merit a small entry in the meikan or haynes. And with the NBTHK issuing a paper, thought maybe there would have been something on this shoryuken. But alas, looks like another tosogu-ko lost to time....

 

Thanks all.