| This tsuba depicts Lin Hejing and is the work of Ichijosai Hirotoshi. Lin Hejing (967–1028) was a poet of the Northern Song dynasty. He lived in seclusion on Gushan Island at West Lake and was renowned for his love of plum blossoms and cranes, giving rise to the expression “plum blossoms as his wife and cranes as his children.” In this work, Lin Hejing and an attendant are rendered in takabori against a mountainous landscape, with a crane flying among the clouds above, depicting this celebrated story. Ichijosai Hirotoshi, of the Uchikoshi family, was one of the leading Mito metalworkers whose school flourished in the late Edo period, alongside Sekijoken Mototaka, Ichiryu Tomoyoshi, Tamagawa Yoshihisa, and Hagiya Katsuhira. He studied under Tamagawa Yoshinaga and, in his youth, went to Edo to further his training with the Hamano school before returning to Mito. He trained numerous desciples and established the Uchikoshi school in Mito. A distinguished tsuba that clearly demonstrates Hirotoshi’s exceptional skill. It passed Tokubetsu Hozon Tosogu Shinsa in 1999. |
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