Page 121 - Edo: Art in Japan, 1615–1868

niques widened. The alloy shibuichi (literally "one part in four"), which is four parts copper to one of
silver, could be patinated to a range of silvers and grayish browns. Shibuichi became as popular as
shakudó, and like shakudó it could be readily sculpted and inlaid with other metals. The number of
metalworkers independent of the clans increased. Probably the most influential of these early practi-
tioners of town carving (machi bori), as distinct from the Goto and others involved in clan carving
(ie bori), was Yokoya Sómin (1670-1733). Sômin specialized in the use of shibuichi and the newly popu-
larized technique of line engraving in imitation of brushwork (kataleiri bori, or "oblique cut carving").
The triangular point of the chisel was held at different angles to produce an outline cut of varying
depths and widths, and the angles of the walls of the cuts could catch the light and enhance the
120 impression of a calligraphic brushstroke.
Sómin had apprenticed in the Goto school and continued to use some traditional Goto subject
matter after his independence, but he also borrowed the designs of popular artists. The repertoire of
the town carvers thus broadened to include the purely Japanese themes, heroic stories, popular customs,
humorous matter, and myths and legends found in printed book illustrations and on other miniature
sculpture like lacquered inró and netsuke. The Rinpa and Shijó schools of painting provided exciting
designs. High-relief sculpture and inlay were sometimes decorated with several different colored metals,

and pictures were virtually painted in metal. The technique of katakiri bori engraving was sometimes
combined on the same piece with high-relief inlay to introduce further depths of perspective. In one
pair of sword guards that shows a carp swimming upstream (cat. 71), the fish is in high-relief shakudó
inlay, the stream is depicted using katakiri bori, and the ground metal is shibuichi, a vivid example of
the combination of techniques and materials available to the town carvers.
One set consisting of a kozuka and a pair of menuki (cat. 68) is a masterful treatment of the
theme of Nió temple guards. The two figures on the menuki are sculpted and inlaid with details in
colored metals, while the figure on the kozuka is pinned to a shakudó ground. Sómin enjoyed a close
friendship with the versatile painter Hanabusa Itchó (see cats. 120, 241), who provided him with prepar-
atory drawings for metalwork in the level Edo style. Another carver, Ichinomiya Nagatsune, specialized
in high-relief colored metal inlay of the realistic paintings of Maruyama Okyo (see cat. 190) in whose
work he found inspiration. The many pupils of Sómin founded further schools of metalwork, such as
the Omori and Yanagawa, as well as a derivative of the Yanagawa school, the Otsuki group (see cat. 65).
Tsuchiya Yasuchika (d. 1744), Sugiura Jói (d. 1751), and Nara Toshinaga (d. 1737) of Edo are known
as the three great metalworkers of the Nara school, and their work illustrates all of the subject matter
of popular myth and legend. The standard established by these seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
artisans was the basis for all later decorative Japanese metalwork. In addition to sword fittings, they made
pouch clasps, netsuke, smoking pipes, and purely ornamental objects. Because metalworking skills
were passed on over several generations, a substantial work force was ready to manufacture objects
for export at the end of the Edo period after the Meiji Restoration.
One of the greatest of the last metalworkers was Goto Ichijó (1791 -1876), the seventeenth master
of the Goto school. Ichijó worked with the traditional shakudó and colored metal inlay of his ancestors
but introduced an adventurous range of designs and themes. His work was greatly prized, with the imper-

ial family ranking among his clients, and his skill brought him the high honorific rank of Hógen in 1863.
A matching pair of sword guards illustrating seasonal flowers in colored metal inlay on shakudó (cat. 73)
are fine examples of Ichijó's exquisite work.