The 14 Generations of the Goto Family

All,

Just stumbled upon another nice free book download: Japan, its history, arts and literature (c1901-1902)

It has a very nice section on sword fittings too. Well worth reading through..lots of interesting info.

In the book, there is a section on the Goto family. Not sure how dated and accurate it is, but thought it worth copying this section:

THE FOURTEEN GENERATIONS OF THE GOTO FAMILY

 

1.Yujo the founder of the family, true name Masa-oki Shirobei held the title of " Sado-no-kami " (lord of Sado), A native of Mino, he served in a military capacity under the Ashikaga chieftain, Yoshinori. Born in 1439, he died in 1512, at the age of seventy-three. Yujo obtained many of his designs from the celebrated painter Kano Masanobu. He is regarded as the founder of the school of sword-decorators, and his works possess great value. He invented the style of chiselling called taka-bori (carving in high relief), and his work is almost supernaturally skilled.

It may be compared to the "exquisite view of Gobi's snow- clad peak towering lofty in the sky " (from a Chinese poet), or to the weeping-willow in the Imperial garden as it waves in the soft breeze, or to the lovely lotus in the fairy lake washed by pearls of dew. So elevated is the tone, so delight- fully chaste the character, of the carving that one cannot look at it without emotion. The traces of the chisel are at once bold and delicate, and every part of the work stands out vivid and almost divine. Yujo may truly be called the " Saint of the Art."

 

2. Sojo, true name of Takemitsu Shirobei, was the son of Yujo. He received the art title Hogen. Born 1486 ; died 1564. His work resembles that of his father so closely as to be almost indistinguishable. The carvings of the two masters may be compared to the iris and the sweet flag, distinct plants which nevertheless bear a strong likeness to each other in colour, fragrance, and even time of flowering.

 

3. Joshin, true name Yoshihisa Shirobei, was the son of Sojo. Born 1511; died 1562. The marks of the chisel are sharp ; the relief very high and the depression deep. It is strong work. In making a menuki of shakudo or gold, he beat it into the desired form, and then added the plating in colours. This method was called uchidashi (repousse) and the addition of the coloured metals without fracturing the ground was known as uttori. This style obtained much vogue in Joshin's time, but is less fashionable now. The art of inlaying (zogan], as applied to sword ornaments, was also inaugurated by Joshin, and his productions are the most varied and peculiar of the iye-bori works. His work may be compared to a brave warrior who is not only a strong guardian but also a trusty councillor ; for while it has boldness and strength, it has also something of delicacy and softness. He bore a different art-flower, but the same fruit as his predecessor.

 

4. Kwojo, called also Mitsuiye, was born in 1530, and died in 1620. He was a son of Joshin. His work resembles that of Yujo in style. It is noble and dignified, neither too strong nor too weak. The impression it conveys is that of resting under the green shadow of a patriarchal pine and looking out on a glow of cherry bloom.

Or it may be compared to a noble lady standing beside the brushwood gate of a rustic dwelling.

 

5. Tokujo, called also Mitsutsugu, was the son of Kwojo.

Born 1549 ; died 1631. Hideyoshi, the Taikb, conferred an estate on him in the year 1580. His work has the characteristic of strong surface modelling, and many specimens are scarcely distinguishable from those of his father Kwojo. Looking at his designs, one is reminded of white sails scattered near and far over the wide bosom of the sea when the brooding breath of spring softens their outlines.

It was in Tokujo's time that the custom originated of issuing certificates of authenticity (orikami] with the works of the Goto family. One of his sons, Chojo, became the founder of a branch of the family known as the "Shimo-Goto" (lower Goto).

 

6. Yeijo, called also Masamitsu, the son of Tokujo, was born in 1574 and died in 1617. His work combines the finished skill of both Kwojo and Tokujo, and has, at the same time, a certain quality of richness, tenderness, and restfulness. One may find a comparison in the view of a little boy driving an ox to pasture on a verdant plain ; or the carriage of a nobleman standing beside a rustic fence over which convolvulus blossoms cluster.

 

7. Kenjo, called also Masatsugu, was a son of Tokujo.

He represented the family during the minority of his nephew Sokujo, and was promoted to the rank of Hokkyo. Born 1585; died 1663. His manner of using the chisel greatly resembled that of Kwojo. One is reminded of a pine-tree and a bamboo covered with snow : they present a delightful contrast, but at heart retain the same changeless green. The fidelity and chastity of his work force themselves into notice. During the Kwanyei era (1625-1643) his services were engaged by the feudal chief of Kaga, who gave him a pension of 150 koku of rice annually (about 1,500 yen), and he made it a custom thenceforth to live in Kaga every second year.

 

8. Sokujo, called also Mitsushige, was the son of Yeijo.

Born 1603 ; died 1631. His style resembles that of Kenjo, and is characterised by directness, strength, and vigour. Connoisseurs are wont to class the works of Yujo, Kojo, and Kenjo as the " three chefs-d'oeuvre" (sansaku), but specimens by Sokujo are exchangeable with those of Kenjo. There is a notion that something of the value attaching to Sokujo's works is due to their rarity, for as he died at the early age of twenty-eight, his productions were not numerous. But that is a mistake. He was a veritable genius, and to that fact alone is due the esteem in which his carvings are held. It is believed by good judges that had he lived longer and attained the mastery of technique which many years of effort can alone give, he would even have surpassed his ancestors, and a sympathetic perception of his latent capacities has something to do with the rank accorded to him by posterity. In the same way connoisseurs often class the works of Tsujo (eleventh representative), Sokujo, and Kwojo as the three "chefs-d 'ceuvre" declining to include the sculptures of Yujo, whom they place in a rank by himself as a divine and matchless master. That is a point of delicacy.

 

9. Teijo, called also Mitsumasa, the son of Kenjo, was born in 1603, and died in 1673. He represented the family during the minority of his nephew Renjo. He was promoted to the art rank of Hokkyo. His works are at once charming, noble, and dignified. It is impossible to deny their title to be called masterpieces. Though his time was not very remote from our own era (1781), his carvings have the peculiar aspect of age presented by the work of Kwojo and the other early masters. The chisel-marks are somewhat deep, clear, and strong. His designs suggest the feeling experienced when, looking out under the bamboo blinds from the upper room of a lofty riverside dwelling, one sees the moon rise on an autumn evening. This artist succeeded to the pension of his father Kenjo, and used to live in Kanazawa (chief town of Kaga) every second year. In the house that he inhabited there may still be seen a stone garden ewer with the figure of Hakuga (a Chinese poet) engraved on it by the chisel of Teijo. It is said that during Teijo's time the Goto family employed a number of Kyoto chisellers to do rough work.

 

10. Renjo, called also Mitsutomo, son of Sokujo, was born in 1626 and died 1708. His work is gentle and magnanimous in tone. It reminds one of the quiet, subdued style in which the story of Akashi is told by the author of the Minamoto Annals (Genji Monogatari). He lived to a ripe old age and had many pupils, so that his works are often found. A son of his called Mitsuyoshi gave promise of future greatness, but unfortunately died young and few specimens exist from his chisel.

 

11. Tsujo, called also Mitsutoshi, was the son of Senjo and grandson of Teijo. He did not belong to the elder branch of the family. Born in 1668, he died 1721. His works are classed among the "three chefs-d'euvre (san-saku)"

His style is somewhat showy. One can almost smell the fragrance of the flowers he chiselled, his birds seem to be on the point of flying or in actual flight, and his human figures smile as though words hovered on their lips. His sculptures are in truth beautiful beyond expression. Chinese annals tell of a puppet presented by a certain artist to a great monarch, and describe how the figure sang and danced automatically. That was a mere mechanical contrivance for the amusement of the moment. Very different is the air of vivid vitality imparted to his sculpture by the master-artist.

There is no actual motion to strike the eye of the common observer, but there is a latent force that imparts to everything the element of motion, and creates a precious picture to be for ever esteemed and admired.

 

12. Jujo, called also Mitsumasa, son of Tsujo, was born in 1694 and died in 1742. His work differs from that of Tsujo. It resembles the best productions of Mitsutaka, the present (1781) representative of the family. One is reminded of a man reaching his goal by steadily treading the right road. There is also an element of balanced strength that suggests the fabulous serpent of Jozan, which could defend itself equally with either end.

 

13. Yenjo, called also Mitsutaka ; son of Jujo, was born in 1720 and died in 1784. Criticised unreservedly, his works seem to vary in quality. The best are not unlike the productions of Tsujo, for which they may easily be mistaken. The lustre of his house is not tarnished, nor the long-sustained reputation of his family impaired, in his hands.

Since the death of Yujo, the founder of the family, two hundred and sixty years have passed. During that time the works of the masters from generation to generation have found their way into the hands of the great and the noble, who treasure them as precious possessions, their value augmenting as time rolls on. That is because the art of the illustrious ancestor has been adorned by the achievements of his descendants, every one of whom was himself a master. These happy results are mainly due, however, to the peaceful sway by which we are blessed, and to the tranquil times when men have leisure to show their respect for the dignity of a sword by the decoration they lavish on its mountings.

 

14. Keijo, called also Mitsumori, son of Yenjo, was born in 1 739, and is still living (1781) in the Kyobashi district of Yedo. The work of this artist has the beauty of his grandfather Tsujo's carving, together with the well-balanced arrangement of his predecessors. His style is his own. There is a tender suggestiveness about his designs that reminds one of a light shower sweeping across the verdant slope of a mountain, or a soft haze resting on the bosom of a limpid lake. His work always shows that noble elevation of tone which belongs to the true artist and can never be imitated.

I don't pretend to be an expert on Gotô, but most Japanese books dealing with this lineage are entitled "The 17 Gotô generations" ...

"Keijo......and is still living (1781) in the Kyobashi district of Yedo." Wherever the base info for the book came from Keijo must have been still alive. John

I believe this is from the 'Soken Kisho' by Inaba Tsurio Shinyemon 7 vol., Osaka, 1781 (from Burawoy's records). The date of publication corresponds with the above quote and there is a paragraph from 'The Sword Ornaments Of The Goto Family', Alexander Mosle, Transactions and Proceedings of The Japan Society London, Vol. VIII, 1908, pg. 206:

"In the preface of the Soken Kisho, we are told that he who would learn how to judge sword furniture must first become conversant with the 'Okite', that is to say, the characteristics of the chisel-work of the fourteen Goto masters, fourteen being the number of genertions up to the time when Michitatsu wrote that work...".

(I wonder if he erred on using Michitatsu)?