For bird week, a master piece (in my opinion) By Furukawa Genchin (古川元珍).
Furukawa Genchin is included among the 28 masters of metal work, and is known to have studied under 1st gen. Yokoya Sōmin, and mastered the technique of katakiri-bori (片切り彫). Sōmin developed this technique by attempting to replicate the simplistic sumi-e (墨絵) paintings of Hanabusa Itchō (英一蝶) through the complex process of deep carving in metal. Upon founding the Furukawa school, Genchin and his students continued this tradition, orientating their work towards katakiri-bori (片切り彫), and which can be seen on the ura of this particular tsuba. However, whilst Yokoya make use of space, often placing the subject in one corner of the tsuba, here we can see Genchin has carved his chrysanthemum dead-centre, drawing one’s attention to the middle. Moreover, unlike the ura, the omote of this tsuba is quite unusual and atypical of Furukawa work. Depicting a theme of plovers and waves (波に千鳥), Genchin deviates from the Yokoya tradition by inlaying plovers in gold, and utilising numerous other techniques. The whole design depicts an understanding of the techniques and compositions of other artistic practices and materials. Firstly, the wave pattern of ‘seigaiha’ (青海波) is a distinctive printing technique commonly found on fabrics, such as kimono and obi. Secondly, the edge of the tsuba has been rendered to replicate the cracked surface seen on aged urushi (漆). Thus, Genchin not only presents himself as a man of learning, whom has studied and understood the techniques of other arts, but displays his mastery by being able to depict these artistic effects in metal. In this regard, this tsuba is a masterpiece, since we see Genchin go two steps beyond Sōmin (whom pioneered the depiction of sumi-e in metal) by conveying the seigaiha wave technique through his chisel, and the effect of urushi in his metal.
This tsuba also comes with provenance in the form of Tokubetsu Kicho (特別貴重) papers which name the proprietor who submitted the tsuba for kantei, in March 1958, as Aoyama Shigeharu (青山重春). The tsuba was also published in the book My Cherished Items (私の愛蔵品), where it gives the name of the owner as Igarashi Shinji (五十嵐真二), a resident of Tokyo, who claims this tsuba is among the best of Genchin’s work, and his most cherished item. The tsuba was also purportedly owned for 20 years by Takanashi Yukihisa (高梨幸久), a dealer from Tokorozawa city in Saitama prefecture, from whom I purchased it in June 2022.