Hosono Sozaemon Masamori (細野惣左衛門政守) worked in Kyoto in the early Edo period between Genroku and Kyoho (1688 – 1736). He used Kebori and Katakiribori mixed with Hira Zogan and often filled the whole plate with his motives of landscapes and rural life. For his time he was quite progressive as he not only depicted sceneries which had been famous from history or favoured by the noble class but chose to show the life of the working class people. Thus we often see workers or farmers going after their daily job in his work.
On this Tsuba he has depicted a Hanami scene where people are sitting under a blooming cherry tree having a pick-nick. We can see five people engaged in chatter and one of them seems to be dancing, maybe due to the influence of Sake which is often consumed during a Hanami. We can also see that they are all sitting on a big mat which one can still see today in the Parks of Japan during cherry blossom. It is a custom to take of the shoes when standing on the mats.
The base plate is made from Shibuichi which exhibits a beautiful dark brown background colour in which fine inlays of Shakudo, Copper and Gold are placed. The shape is Moko-gata. Due to the highly reflective surface we believe that some old lacquer is still extant.
The NBTHK Kanteisho attributes this Tsuba according to its signature (細野惣左衛門政守 花押) to Hosono Sozaemon Masamori.
Comes with a custom made box and the NBTHK certificate.
H: 65 mm
W: 58 mm
R: 4 mm
Sd: 3 mm
