“YOKOYA SOYO”

Mei: Soyo with Kao

2.875″ (7.30cm) x 2.75″ (6.98cm) x 0.156″ (0.397cm)

This is a magnificent Tsuba I acquired from the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This tsuba is a fine example of Kashu Kinko work which descended from the Goto line of engravers. The plate is thick migaki-ji shibuichi with the tree being inlaid shakudo. The carving is done in katte kiri bori or sunken relief and is highlighted with gold. There is a small stain of unknown origin on the reverse side on the seppa dai.

“Yokoya Soyo” was a descendent of Goto Yujo, the first mainline Goto Master who is credited with being the progenitor of metal engravers. An individual Ha branched from Goto Kenjo (seventh mainline Goto Master), Teijo and Etsujo and was known as “Kashu Kinko”. When the line reached Injo, third son of Kenjo it branched and led to “Yokoya Soyo”. His son was the famous Yokoya “Somin”. Their ha or school eventually produced many famous artists such as “Omori Teruhide”, “Sano Naomasa”, “Kato Naotsune”, and “Ishiguro Masatsune”, as well as many others.

The motif depicts “Rosei”, sleeping beneath a tree on the obverse. The reverse side depicts “Rosei’s” Dream. The story of Rosei goes something like this. After learning the Chinese emperor was in need of councilors, Rosei decided to travel to the capital in hopes of being accepted by the Emperor. Rosei was not a member of the upper class and therefore was traveling alone. Along the way Rosei was constantly grumbling about his poverty and lack of protectors. Near Kanton, he met the Rishi, “Lu Kung”. Reshi’s are of course “Sennin” or immortals. Lu Kung hearing Rosei’s grumbling and complaining gave him a pillow which was said to have magical powers. Later that evening while waiting for his millet to cook, Rosei rested himself upon the pillow. Falling asleep he dreamed of the Emperor sending a procession of retainers with a court palanquin to get him (shown on obverse). In his dream he rose to great power, marrying one of the emperors daughters and eventually succeeding the emperor. While serving as emperor his three year old son fell into a garden fountain and drown. Rosei’s cries startled him awake and he realized that the Rishi’s pillow had given him the dream as a warning of the transitory nature of earthly possessions. Instead of continuing on his trip, he returned home to retire in meditation.

I have had questions regarding the legitimacy of the mei on this tsuba. It is difficult attempting to pinpoint a particular generation of Soyo which may have made this tsuba as I was not able to find great deal of information available. There were only a few generations, the shodai or founder of this school died in 1690 at age 78. His son, the second generation born 1670, died 1733, become the famous Yokoya Somin and began signing with Somin in 1694-95. The third Soyo, son of Somin born 1700, died 1799 before or around the time of his father. The fourth was family by marriage, but as there were no more living heirs, he succeeded to the title at age 34 in 1733 and began signing Soyo. It is noted that this fourth generation specialized in katakiri carving on shibuichi plate and produced the finest of that style that any of the Yokoya school was to ever make. As aside note there was another who signed “Godaime Soyo” (fifth gen) but supposedly took the name without permission and was not related.

I could find no information regarding their use of kao, yet every photo of their mei I have seen has a kao. All vary slightly and these variations are surely kantei points and likely the means by which to determine one generation from the other. Sadly, I have not been able to find the key to distinguishing these points.

Again, all of this make it very hard to speculate as too which generation made this tsuba, I lean towards the fourth simply due to the fact that this work textbooks his style. However, please keep in mind I am no authority nor claim to be an expert regarding this school.

Wakayama Vol. II pg 117, all show subtle differences in both the mei and the Kao, again subtle but different.
Different enough that I would not dare to say mine is shoshin, yet the discrepancies in the examples bring me to the conclusion that mine is perhaps not necessarily gimei either.

I have added these examples in order that you can make a decision for yourself, or in the event you look at them and care to share your thoughts with me (See attached).

My thought is that shinsa is definitely a toss up, yet likely the only way to know.

While there may be some question regarding the mei, there is no question that it is a very fine tsuba. I understand that many collectors would not be interested without some authentication. Sadly, that opens a new argument on how dependable attributions really are. To my knowledge this tsuba has never been to shinsa and I have owned it around ten years. If, it is in fact shoshin, I would be interested to know how the shinsa panel would attribute it, whether they would attribute it to a particular generation or simply to the Soyo school.