YOSEGANE

[Ian B3HR2UH]

 I was struggling with the Japanese description of a mounting . Mr Moriyama , who is a huge asset to the Board , assisted by giving me the translation ,being Yosegane ,together with a link to the Mokumekin Museum .

The museum describes Yosegane as"like marquetry Yosegane combines metals of different colors to create patterns ".

Members might be interested to see an example of what I now know to be Yosegane. This sword , regretably not mine , is one of the finest that I have ever handled. I hope you enjoy looking at it .

Ian Brooks

[Spartancrest]

We definitely need a drooling emoji  🤤

[Brian]

WOW. That is incredible. Simply superb. That whole koshirae is just top top top level. What a privilege it must be to handle it.
Is it just koshirae or is there a blade? And if there is, what maker warrants that mounting?

[Lewis B]

Top level work. Are the fittings signed? I can only imagine a grandmaster blade was worthy of such a koshirae.

 

The quirky menuki design is just raises the whole a little bit higher from a viewers perspective.

[Ian B3HR2UH]

I am glad you liked it Brian . The blade is hirazukuri with an orikaeshimei Bishu Osafune Morimitsu , circa 1360 , I believe . It is tokubetsu hozon from memory . None of the fittings are signed Lewis

Ian

[Nobody]

The image is not clear, but the smith name might be 守政 - Morimasa.

 

Edited, Mirimasa --> Morimasa

[Ian B3HR2UH]

Thanks , yes my mistake I had it as Morimasa and wrote Morimitsu by mistake . Thanks again for your help with the translation.

Ian

[Bugyotsuji]

A lovely package!

(I am sure Nobody meant to type 'Morimasa' above.)

[Nobody]

9 minutes ago, Bugyotsuji said:

A lovely package!

(I am sure Nobody meant to type 'Morimasa' above.)

 

Thank you. That was my typo.

[Curran]

The fittings would either get attributed to "Kozenji' (late Edo high level Owari Kinko) or Umetada.

 

They only distinction I have ever noticed in the NBTHK attributions to Kozenji vs Umetada work is that the Kozenji work often has a trace of silver or shibuichi.

If I were to second guess the NBTHK, I think they'd go Umetada on these fittings.

 

Beautiful sword, and some very exceptional lacquerwork too.

Imagine the challenge of doing the keyfret in shakudo on the fuchi, kashira, kogai, kurikata, and kojiri, Heavens, that is a lot of work.

 

 

[Exclus1ve]

A amazing work by Kusakari Kiyosada, a metal artist from Sendai renowned for finishing shakudo surfaces in a uniform stone-texture ground (ishime-ji), outlining the design with gold wire, and executing delicate linear decoration in flat gold inlay (hira-zogan).

Kiyosada trained with the Omori family in Edo and went on to create a new aesthetic distinct from earlier Sendai inlay traditions, characterized by a beautifully composed, planar pictorial space. After returning to his home province, he served the Date family and trained many disciples.

 

The last example is probably daisho

 

Edited Saturday at 09:04 AM by Exclus1ve

[Jake6500]

Very interesting thread! This is the first time I've seen this technique so I'm happy to have learned something new!

 

Did you encounter this blade in Japan Ian?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 14 hours ago by Jake6500

[Ian B3HR2UH]

Hi Jake , it is right here in Victoria