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"Hikozo Hirata (H 01289.0): A tachikanagushi and metalworker of Kyoto in the early Edo period. Founder of the Hirata school. He was a master craftsman of Higo metalwork, which flourished in Higo (Kumamoto Prefecture) in the early Edo period. He is said to have emigrated from Kyoto following Tadaoki Hosokawa. He was mainly engaged in the production of tsuba, including the 'Ozanbaihana-tsuba' and the 'Kiku-tsuba' (both in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum).
This work is a wonderful masterpiece that has been owned by a private collector for a long time, and based on its area/characteristics, it is believed to be the work of "Hikozo".
This is a masterpiece with a beautiful sea mouse transparent finish made of copper that has a taste of the times. The rim is 'Odawara cover ring', which is one of the characteristics of Hikozo's works. The Odawara cover ring has a mechanism in which the ring itself moves around and around, and in this work it also moves a few millimeters from side to side. There seems to be a theory that something that was fixed became movable over time, and a theory that it was designed to move from the beginning, but even now nothing is certain.
There are various theories about the origin of the name, such as that it is associated with Odawara lanterns, or that the bumpy shape of the cover ring resembles the bellows of Odawara lanterns, but nothing is clear about this.
Height 7.90cm Width 7.20cm Thickness 0.38cm." (Haynes) |
