JAPAN
Yūjō, on which the design is a bamboo water-pipe, having beside it eight Kiri (Paulownia) blossoms within a circle.
An idea of the extreme delicacy of Yūjō's chiselling may be formed from a celebrated work of his, a peach-kernel upon which he carved the twenty-one Shrines of Sanno, standing among trees peopled by a multitude of monkeys.
A favourite form of menuki chiselled by the Goto masters was a dragon coiled round a two-edged sword (called kuri-kara-ryu). In good specimens of these menuki the sword passes perfectly straight through the coils of the dragon, and the blade flashes. The slightest deviation from the straight line is a blemish.
Among authenticated specimens of the first six Goto masters' works the following may be mentioned:—
1. A kōgai, kozuka, and a pair of menuki, en suite, by Yūjō. Each of the menuki is a group of five dragons; on the kozuka and kōgai ten dragons each are chiselled. This is a splendid work.
2. A pair of menuki, the design being Tawara Toda riding on a dragon to meet the giant centipede, which is seen emerging from a mountain.
3. A kōgai, kozuka and pair of menuki by Yūjō, decorated with thirty shishi, five on each of the menuki, and ten each on the kozuka and kōgai. A splendid work.
4. A kōgai having a spray of peony chiselled in relief and a cat playing with a butterfly.
5. Menuki by Yūjō; a group of crows.
6. A kōgai, having for design a hen keeping her chicks warm under snow-laden bamboos.
7. A kōgai, having a cock-fight chiselled in relief.
8. A kozuka; the design a hawk striking a pheasant, and a hunter carrying a game-bag. The menuki, en suite, are in the form of game-bags containing pheasants.
9. Menuki in the form of an eagle swooping on a monkey.
10. A kōgai having five wild geese chiselled on it.
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