SWORD-FURNITURE
by more profuse use of gold inlaying. Jōchiku is considered one of the greatest chisellers of insects that Japan ever produced. His daughter, Jotetsu, whose works are spoken of as musume-bori (the girl's carvings), was very successful in the same line, as were also several of his pupils and descendants.
It was in the early part of this century (1620) that Hikoshiro, founder of the Hirata family, began to apply verifiable enamels in the decoration of sword-furniture. Technical knowledge of the enamelling processes existed in Japan before his time, nor does any inventive credit belong to him except in the matter of opaque white enamel, which he was the first to manufacture and which remained a specialty of his family down to recent times. All the other enamels employed by him—green, yellow, blue, red, and purple — were translucid (suki-jippo). Parts of the design were cloisonned, so as to receive the enamels, and 1 much brilliancy of decorative effect was thus produced. The Hirata experts cannot be ranked with Japan's best glyptic artists. The only member of the family who deserves to be called a great chiseller was Harunari (1810). For the information of collectors it may be mentioned that sword-mounts having enamel decoration and bearing the Hirata mark are not necessarily identifiable as products of the Hirata family. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the term Hirata was used to designate a style rather than a family, and artisans often carved it on guards in the former sense.
In addition to the families of experts already spoken of as having made their début in this century, the following may be noted without any detailed reference:—the Tsuji of Yedo, founded by Masachika
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