Mitokoromono by Goto Tokujo

[Okan]

Hi all, 

 

Just like to share my recent acquisition, a unique Mitokoro-mono by the 5th generation mainline head of the Goto school, Tokujo. He was the eldest son of Kujo, born in 1549 and passed away in 1631. After serving Oda Nobunaga, he became the court chisel master for Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

 

Exhibited at the Tokyo National Museum. 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

[Curran]

Goto Tokujo  = my favorite mainline Goto dude. His son Kenjo is my #2 pick.

Tokujo lead quite a life clashing with the Tokugawa, ending up ronin for a while, AND he did it with daughters En Tout.

Elements of the Lone Wolf n Cub story from his life, and he was a top notch artist on top of it all.

 

I saw this recently with someone who I thought was based in Japan.

If you picked it up from him, well done.

Scoring a complete set of Goto Tokujo work is.... very hard.  I haven't been able to do it.

 

I've been searching for one of his rare tsuba for several years and had one or two near misses.

[Okan]

4 hours ago, Curran said:

Goto Tokujo  = my favorite mainline Goto dude. His son Kenjo is my #2 pick.

Tokujo lead quite a life clashing with the Tokugawa, ending up ronin for a while, AND he did it with daughters En Tout.

Elements of the Lone Wolf n Cub story from his life, and he was a top notch artist on top of it all.

 

I saw this recently with someone who I thought was based in Japan.

If you picked it up from him, well done.

Scoring a complete set of Goto Tokujo work is.... very hard.  I haven't been able to do it.

 

I've been searching for one of his rare tsuba for several years and had one or two near misses.

 

Thank you, Curran! I knew he didn’t get along with Ieyasu, but I wasn’t aware of the connection to Lone Wolf.

I picked it up in Japan from someone well known, along with a Sokujo shishi set, just last week.

[Jesta]

I love the playful theme 

[Bugyotsuji]

The mon all look suspiciously close to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's, not Tokugawa Ieyasu! That would annoy Ieyasu for a start! 

[Okan]

On 1/17/2026 at 5:14 AM, Bugyotsuji said:

The mon all look suspiciously close to Toyotomi Hideyoshi's, not Tokugawa Ieyasu! That would annoy Ieyasu for a start! 

 

Actually, it’s very close to Oda Nobunaga’s set, made by Yūjō. If he knew, I’m sure it would annoy Hideyoshi as well.  Or maybe not. 

 

 

 

 

[Ray Singer]

This is a set I had not long ago and actually had offered here within the group. The mitokoromono was attributed to Kaga Goto.

[Curran]

I find this VERY funny.

The mon on my Goto Tokujo menuki are also suspiciously close to that of Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

Talk about casting shade.

 

If I can find it, I am going to link an article written by our esteemed Markus Sesko @Markus

https://markussesko.com/2013/04/23/goto-chojo-the-secret-saver-of-the-goto-family/

 

It makes for great context.

Kojo's two kids, older brother Tokujo vs younger brother Chojo     =   Toyotomi  vs Tokugawa

 

[Okan]

@Ray Singer Nice one Ray! Can't get enough of Hotei.

 

@Curran And Kojo and his father Joshin..Ashikaga vs Nobunaga...First 5 generations really went through a lot..And of course I read the article, twice

 

 

 

[Dereks]

Just finished reading the article—it’s amazing how thorough the documentation on this family is. Big thanks to @Markus for digging it up!

 

And Okan, forgive my ignorance—does this set have Hozon paper saying Goto Tokujo, or are you judging from the style and box inscriptions? Asking this because they look very similar. 

[Okan]

Just now, Dereks said:

Just finished reading the article—it’s amazing how thorough the documentation on this family is. Big thanks to @Markus for digging it up!

 

And Okan, forgive my ignorance—does this set have Hozon paper saying Goto Tokujo, or are you judging from the style and box inscriptions? Asking this because they look very similar. 

 

It's Juyo.

[Curran]

5 minutes ago, Okan said:

 

It's Juyo.

 

I thought a good chance that it was.

I couldn't remember what level papers, but learned towards more likely Juyo than not.

 

If you see enough of it, you can learn to identify the makers by things such as composition and certain tell-tale details.

For me, the nanako made me think = Tokujo.

 

But I think I can only reflexively recognize a few generations.

The big format Goto book [I forget the author] also helps a lot at times.

 

 

[Dereks]

On 1/19/2026 at 1:40 AM, Curran said:

 

I thought a good chance that it was.

I couldn't remember what level papers, but learned towards more likely Juyo than not.

 

If you see enough of it, you can learn to identify the makers by things such as composition and certain tell-tale details.

For me, the nanako made me think = Tokujo.

 

But I think I can only reflexively recognize a few generations.

The big format Goto book [I forget the author] also helps a lot at times.

 

 

Much obliged, Curran! Is the large‑format Goto book you mentioned in English or Japanese? If it’s in English, I’d love to read it and learn more about the Goto family.

Just a quick question — I’ve tried to find Goto Tokujo set online to get a sense of pricing, but couldn’t find any. Actually, when I type “Goto Tokujo Mitokoromono” into Google, this site comes up.  Is this set Juyo because of its rarity? 

[Curran]

The large format Goto book is all Japanese. I think it was a limited # run.

However, there is Markus Sesko's Tosogu Classroom book with quite a bit in English about the Goto boys.

 

As for Goto Tokujo Mitokoromono, well- I don't know if I have ever seen a complete set before.

I have seen mix n match between him, his father, and/or his son, but never a complete set by one guy.

 

[CSM101]

The large book is Tosogu Gokecho Meihin Shusei by Shigeo Fukuchi.

 

 

 

[Charlie C]

Congratulations Okan! Truly master-pieces (pun intended).

 

My recent feeling on collecting, not just tosogu, is that it can be really hard to acquire high-quality items without having proper resources, so I envy you.

 

One theory is that Tokujo helped Hideyoshi design his Kamon (that's why Hideyoshi's kamon is also called 徳乗桐, tokujo's Tung tree, sometimes), and Tokujo himself definitely created many pieces with this pattern on them in the Momoyama era. I am not with my computer now but google should help one find the tsubo menukis Tokujo's famous for.