Celebrating Asian Art

A two-panel folding screen with autumn landscape, circa 1860-70
H: 171 x L. 186 cm.
The landscape is dominated on the right by a maple tree with lush autumn foliage, contrasting with the flatly painted landscape on the opposite panel of the screen. The golden clouds, which are also unrealistically placed in the foreground, give light and rhythm to the composition. The stylised waves and the pictorial style with which the strips of land and the leaves are treated immediately recall the Rinpa school, an artistic movement created by the painter Tawaraya Sōtatsu in the 17th century, later taken up by the Kōrin brothers in the following century and very successful again in the second half of the 19th century.

Katana Ko Uda in koshirae, NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken
Nanbokuchō Period, 14th century
Mumei
Nagasa [length]: 70.3 cm
Sori [curvature]: 1.4 cm
Motohaba [bottom width]: 2.7 cm
Sakihaba [top width]: 2 cm
Motokasane [bottom thickness]: 5.3 mm
Sugata [configuration]
Shinogi-zukuri, iori-mune, shallow sori, elongated chu-kissaki
Kitae [forging pattern]
Itame hada mixed with masame hada. Jinie and chikei
Hamon [tempering pattern]
Suguha in nie-deki with strong nie, rich of ashi, yō, sunagashi, uchinoke and kinsuji.
Boshi [point]
Kaen. Long kaeri becoming muneyaki
Nakago [tang]
O-suriage, kirijiri; three mekugi-ana
Origami [paper]
The blade comes with a Tokubetsu Hozon Tōken (Sword Particularly Worth of Preserving) certificate issued by the Nihon Bijutsu Token Hozon Kyokai.
Koshirae [mounts]
The sword in shirasaya is accompanied by a good antique handachi koshirae with high level copper and shakudo fittings.

The founder of the Uda School is considered to have been Kunimitsu, originally from the Uda district of Yamato Province, at the end of the Kamakura Era. All of the succeeding smiths of this school used the kanji character “Kuni” in their signatures. At some point he moved to Etchu Province, so even though the Uda School had its foundation in the Yamato tradition, it is considered to be one of the wakimono schools from this region, mixing different styles. Since remaining works by Kunimitsu are non-existent, his students, Kunifusa and Kunimune, are generally thought to be the true founders of this school. Both of these smiths studied under Norishige of the Etchu Province and they were active in the late 13th century. The works of these early Uda smiths followed the style of the Yamato den particularly in the areas of sugata and hamon.

“Ko-Uda” is the term used to specify works of the Uda school made before 1394. Early blades like the present one show Yamato characteristics, as a shallow sori and a fairly high shinogi. The hamon is of nie structure with abundant nie activities such as ashi, yo, nie hotsure, sunagashi, and kuchigaiba. The bōshi often ends with a long kaeri which sometimes continues into muneyaki, as clearly visible on this katana.

Jizai Okimono
A russet-iron articulated figure of a hawk Edo period, 19th century
Height: 23.5 cm

The iron hawk, constructed of numerous hammered plates jointed inside the body, can move remarkably smoothly its head, wings and claws. The finely chiseled feathers move individually and can spread. The beak is made in shibuichi.

The fearsome beauty and predatory features of hawks - sharp beaks, keen eyes, long curving talons - made them metaphors of martial training and the warrior spirit since the Muromachi period. Samurai found in the brave and daring nature of these birds a congenial expression of their ideals, and they became a preferred theme in painting. To collect and maintain fine hawks constituted a status-symbol of the warrior class. Tokugawa leyasu's enthusiasm for hawking (takagari) is said to have been unequaled and nearly all the successive shoguns down through the Edo period shared his keen interest.

Jizai okimono representing hawks are extremely rare. The earliest known example is in the Tokyo National Museum, signed by Mychin Kiyoharu, 18th century, and a few others from the Edo through Meiji periods are in private collections. Unlike most of these models, which have abnormally extended legs, this one is very realistic and has balanced proportions.

Jizai okimono are realistically shaped figures of animals. Their bodies and limbs are articulated, and can be moved like real animals; among these figures, we can find models of dragons, birds, fishes, snakes, lobsters, crabs and insects. The term “jizai okimono” seems to be quite modern: In the 1893 Chicago World's Columbian Exposition the craftsman Itao Shinjiro showed an articulated piece which was described as kusshin jizai tsubasa no okimono (an okimono with wings that move in and out freely) and the word jizai is seen again in this context on the storage box for an articulated dragon purchased by Tokyo National Museum in 1911. The only known Edo-period box inscription referring to one (a small dragon) calls it a bunchin (paperweight).