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Description: | Tetsu, nademaru gata, dote mimi, Hikone bori, ko-sukashi tsuba with gold iroe. The omote design is of musicians in a bamboo grove. The ura design shows a daimyo or senior official seated with a gunbai dansen, war fan, relaxing, listening to the music. Gagaku, the court music of Japan, was the preserve of the higher ranks of the samurai, shogun and daimyo. It was also the music of the Emperors court. It was very esoteric and addressed itself to three principles: sho the light that penetrates from the heavens; ryuteki, the dragon that ascends dancing in the sky and hichiriki, the voices echoing on the earth. When all heard together the cosmos could be heard. The bamboo represents constancy and virtue the essence of the samurai, whose name means to serve. The omote mei reads: Soheishi Nyudo Soten Sei. The ura mei reads: Goshu Hikone (no) Ju. This work is most probably by Soten I (1716-1836). Soten was an important craftsman based in Hikone which is near the new capital of Edo or Yedo estab-lished by Tokugawa Ieyasu when he became Shogun in 1603. He was working during the late Momoyama Period 1573- 1603 and the early Edo period 1603-1868.
Tsuba, soten, pierced and carved with musicians. | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/uk/ | Publisher: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Rights holder: | Wolverhampton Arts and Museums Service | Subjects: | Weapons Decorative arts Japanese Decorative Art Japan | Source: | Black Country History | Identifier: | http://www.blackcountryhistory.org/colle... | Go to resource |
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