The other day at an appreciation meeting, there were many works by Ōtsuki Mitsuoki on display, and it was a truly rare opportunity to view so many of his designs all at once.
Although I was unable to identify the maker of the unsigned menuki attributed to the Ōtsuki school, I was able to notice several stylistic similarities in the Mitsuoki tsuba in my possession. I’d like to make a note of those observations here.

The Mitsuoki tsuba I own is as follows:
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“Tiger on a Cliff” tsuba — Ryukodō Mitsuoki (with kaō signature)
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It depicts a scene of a tiger glaring down from atop a cliff.
The movement of the great waves and the fine spray are all expressed by skillfully varying the thickness of katakiribori carving lines, evoking a vivid sense of presence reminiscent of Katsushika Hokusai.
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(Source: Hokusai, Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji — The Great Wave off Kanagawa)

Contents

About Ōtsuki Mitsuoki

Impressions of Mitsuoki’s style from the appreciation meeting

Common features observed

Considerations

About Ōtsuki Mitsuoki

Ōtsuki Mitsuoki (1766–1834) was an accomplished metalworker of the late Edo period. Around the age of thirty he moved to Edo, where he studied painting under Kishio (Kishi Ganku), famous for his depictions of tigers.
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Kishi Ganku “Fierce Tiger” (Tsuruga City Museum collection)

He is also said to have been influenced by Nagasawa Rosetsu, who was active during the same period. Rosetsu studied under Maruyama Ōkyo, and his tiger paintings at Muryōji Temple (see below) are well known.
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Nagasawa Rosetsu “Tiger sliding door paintings” (Muryōji collection)
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Ōtsuki Mitsuoki’s tiger depiction

Mitsuoki later became recognized as one of the three great Kyoto masters, alongside Nagatsune and Tetsugendō, and produced many disciples including Sasayama Tokkō.

Impressions of Mitsuoki’s style at the appreciation meeting

There were about ten or perhaps more of Mitsuoki’s works displayed. The first impression was that there were surprisingly few katakiribori-style tsuba like mine; most instead used colored metals to express a Zen-like aesthetic, similar to works found on Seikōdō’s website. Even when katakiribori was present, it tended to be fine and delicate.
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(Source: Ginza Seikōdō)

There were also works resembling those shown on Zenzai’s blog (though not the exact same pieces):

Eguchi and Saigyō Tsuba by Mitsuoki Ōtsuki

Standing Crane Kozuka by Mitsuoki Ōtsuki

Reeds and Wild Geese Tsuba by Mitsuoki Ōtsuki

Many of these bore flowing, cursive-style signatures.

Mitsuoki used various art names such as Ryūsai, Dairyūsai, Ryukodō, Shiryūdō, and Gekkōkō, resulting in a wide range of signatures. Some even look almost like abstract symbols.

I still need to study more about which names correspond to which period of his career, but my impression was that “Ryukodō” in block-style script appears to be from his younger years, before he developed the fluid cursive style. However, at the meeting I also saw one tsuba with a Ryukodō signature nearly identical to mine, and another with a cursive-style Ryukodō signature. Perhaps the latter was created right at a transitional point.

This is similar to how the swordsmith Sukehira’s early works bore square “Tsuda” signatures, which later became rounder in his later years.
If that’s the case, cursive signatures may in fact be more advanced in execution.

Below is the Ryukodō Mitsuoki signature on my own tsuba (not in cursive style):