Lot Essay
Azuma Masutsune was a student of the 15th master Mitsuyoshi. He was known to do vicarious work for his master, however, when producing his own work he signed his own name. Masutsune carved a poem by Takarai Kikaku, a poet from the mid Edo period. He was from Omi province and came to Edo to be a student of Matsuo Basho. The poem reads
mochibanaya
yoruha nezumi ga
Yoshino yama
Kikaku
Mochibana was made by thinning a rice cake and adding colour. It was displayed on a branch of yanagi for koshogatsu [15th of January in the old calendar] and was offered at the household altar [kamidana].
Harima province is now Hyogo prefecture. The main towns are Ako, Tatsuno, Himeji and Akashi. In Himeji, from the Genroku period to the Kyoho period, the Umetada and Shoami schools were active. In the late Edo period, the clan workers Muneyuki, Munetomo and Munehide made not only Myochin style iron tsuba but kinko work including chopsticks.
The artist Katsura Teruzane sometimes worked with the bakumatsu Myochin school tsuba makers, Muneyuki and Munetomo.
mochibanaya
yoruha nezumi ga
Yoshino yama
Kikaku
Mochibana was made by thinning a rice cake and adding colour. It was displayed on a branch of yanagi for koshogatsu [15th of January in the old calendar] and was offered at the household altar [kamidana].
Harima province is now Hyogo prefecture. The main towns are Ako, Tatsuno, Himeji and Akashi. In Himeji, from the Genroku period to the Kyoho period, the Umetada and Shoami schools were active. In the late Edo period, the clan workers Muneyuki, Munetomo and Munehide made not only Myochin style iron tsuba but kinko work including chopsticks.
The artist Katsura Teruzane sometimes worked with the bakumatsu Myochin school tsuba makers, Muneyuki and Munetomo.