ARTIST ARTIZANS
- Matsumoto. Ryōzan. 19th cent. (d. 1860.) Called also Kimbei; contemporary of Hōun (q. v.). Wood-carver. Carved the figure of Fudo at Naruta (hence received the name of “Fudo Kimbei”), and the figures of 500 Rishi in the Naruta temple.
- Meikei. First half of 19th cent. Netsuke-carver.
- Miao. Yeisuke. Present day. A bronze-founder of Yokohama.
- Michimasa. (d. 1690.) Yagoro. Metal-founder.
- Minko. There were three netsuke-shi of this name. The first was a contemporary of Miwa, and is separately noticed. The second, a woman, worked in the Tempo era (1830–43), and the third, Tsunohan Minko, was a great sculptor, who died about the year 1850.
- Minko. 18th cent. A netsuke-carver of Tsu in Ise. The Soken Kisho says: “His skill in wood-carving is very remarkable, especially in the production of ingenious and interesting figures. For example, he will carve a Daruma with eyes that turn in the head. His works are much liked, and his skill may be inferred from the fact that though he is still (1781) living, there are many imitations of his netsuke.”
- Mitsubashi. Riuun. 19th cent. (d. 1897.) A wood-carver of Tokyo, highly skilled in chiselling designs in medium relief. Much of his work was done for bronze-casters, so that few specimens remain.
- Mitsuharu. 18th cent. A netsuke-carver of Kyoto. “Several fine netsuke bear his name.”—Soken Kisho.
- Mitsuhiro. 19th cent. (d. 1865.) A netsuke-carver of Osaka; one of the greatest experts of the century. He could chisel ideographs as though they were traced by a great penman.
- Miwa. 18th cent. A celebrated netsuke-carver. The Soken Kisho says: “The other names of this artist are unknown. He lived and worked at Sekiguchi, in the street called Suidomachi, in Yedo (Tokyo). His skill was of the highest, and he specially distinguished himself in carving such figures as kodomo shishi-asobi (children masquerading as Dogs of Fo), take-ryoshi (catchers of cuttle-fish), etc. His netsuke were all of uncoloured cherry wood, and the holes through which the cord passed were lined with horn, stained light green. He did not work in ivory.”
N.B. Miwa is one of the names with which venders of bric-a-brac are wont to conjure. To account for the very considerable number of “Miwa” netsuke offered by them for sale, they have devised a legend indicating that several generations of the Miwa family followed the profession of netsuke-carver, and they do not hesitate to assign to the chisel of “Miwa the First,” netsukes elaborately coloured and even lacquered, though the author of the Soken Kisho explicitly notes that Miwa’s work was entirely in uncoloured cherry wood. Some well known European writers on Japanese art, failing to notice this point have been betrayed into obviously false identifications.
- Miyao. Kyosei. Present day. Ivory-carver of Tokyo.
- Miyazaka. Hakuryu. First half of 19th cent. Netsuke-carver.
- Miyochin. Yoshihisa. 17th cent. (d. 1664.) Common name Yazayemon. A celebrated armourer, kinzoku-shi and chiseller of sword-furniture. A son of Miyochin Munehisa. Originally he worked at Kamakura, but subsequently moved to Yuki (Shimotsuke province), and ultimately took up his abode at Fukui in Yechizen. A great expert.
- Miyochin. Yoshihisa. 17th cent. (Second of that name.) (d. 1675.) The most celebrated of the Miyochin masters for works outside the range of armour and sword-furniture. He forged dragons, craw-fish, and crabs with universal joints, birds with movable plumage, and other objects of iron showing extraordinary skill. The maker of an iron eagle now in the South Kensington Museum. This eagle was originally in the possession of the Matsudaira family (feudal chief of Yechizen), where some masterpieces by the same expert are still preserved. Miyochin Yoshihisa’s methods of manufacture were carried on by a son and grandson of the same name, the former of whom died in 1680, the latter in 1732.
- Miyogaya. Seishichi. 18th cent. A netsuke-carver, of whom the Soken Kisho says: “He lived near the temple Nishi-hongwan-ji in Bingomachi, Osaka. He was by profession
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