NihontoWatchNihontoWatchThis Fuchi Kashira is made from copper and silver. The motif of this work is the Manzai (万歳), which is a traditional Japanese ceremony and originally means a New Year’s blessing performance. This Fuchi Kashira is recognized by The Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords, which is known as NBTHK. According to the certificate, this Fuchi Kashira was made by Kazuki (一喜), who was active during the late Edo period. After the signature, there is a Kao (花押: stylized signature). His master was Omori Teruhide (大森英秀), a prestigious sword ornament craftsman who was active during the mid – late Edo period. Teruhide created many sword ornaments such as Tsuba (handguard), Kozuka (a small knife), and Fuchi Kashira, mainly by inlaying called the Zougan technique and engraving called the Choukin technique. Also, he is famous for his excellence and beauty of craftsmanship and devising some unique carving techniques. He established the Omori school, and his techniques were handed down to the next generation and became a model for others. Kazuki was also thought to belong to the school and must have learned excellent craftsmanship from Teruhide. You would see two people performing with some tools on this Fuchi Kashira. They are called the Geisha (芸者), who congratulate and perform dances, with their wishes for a good new year. The Geisha having a Taiko (太鼓, drum) is called Saizo (才蔵), and the one holding a fan is called Tayu (太夫). It was believed that the merry and silly words exchanged by Tayu and Saizo would bring laughter and good fortune to the people. This type of Manzai is also called the Mikawa Manzai (三河万歳), since it is originally a traditional performing art of Mikawa province (today’s Aichi prefecture). It is said that during the Edo period, the Geisha of Mikawa Manzai were welcomed by the Tokugawa Shogunate family, and allowed to perform in Edo Castle or residences of feudal loads. Nowadays, this performance is performed on festive occasions regardless of the season. Also, it was designated an Important Intangible Folk Cultural Asset of Japan in 1995. Authentication Paper They authenticated the Fuchi Kashira on Oct 6th in the first year of Heisei (1989). They appraised it as Tokubetsu Hozon Tousougu, the Fuchi Kashira worth preserving for Japanese society.
Certificate reading — 銘 一喜（花押）
NihontoWatchOmori School大森派
Offered by Samurai Museum
16 on the market
Ōmori
Edo
Signed
Tokuho (NBTHK)
Machibori · Edo
16 pieces on the market now
The Ōmori school was one of the great machibori (town-carving) lineages of Edo, founded in the first half of the eighteenth century by Ōmori Terumasa (大森英昌, also read Eishō), a direct disciple of Yokoya Sōmin. " A dated tsuba of Meiwa 7 (1770) anchors his mature activity, and the workshop remained rooted in the shogunal capital throughout its history — his pupil Hidetomo proudly signed works "Tōto, by the Sumida River"[[c:1]]. The headship then passed through Hidenaga to Hidemitsu (英満), Teruhide's fifth son, carrying the line deep into the late Edo period. " Its defining invention is the strikingly three-dimensional wave design known as Ōmori-nami (大森浪), the "Ōmori waves," together with sunago-zōgan gold-dust inlay executed in the kinkeshi manner and the flush gold inlay evocative of maki-e lacquer called nashiji-zōgan or chirigami-zōgan — techniques devised, the setsumei state, to heighten the elegant, courtly taste of the work. The judges single out "the weighty takabori carving characteristic of the Ōmori style," deployed across a repertoire spanning peony-and-shishi compositions, birds of prey amid rising sun and surging waves, tigers in bamboo, waves with myriad fish (uozukushi), the vanguard crossing of the Uji River, Fan Kuai at the Banquet at Hongmen, and the treasure ship of the Seven Lucky Gods.
Later generations show measured evolution: Hidemitsu "preserved the carving methods of his forebears while accepting changes in contemporary taste," turning also to iron ishime-ji grounds in sukidashi-bori and collaborating with the painter Kanō Dōhaku Aishin, whose preparatory drawings attest to exchange with the painting ateliers of the day; substitute works (daisaku) by his disciple Ōmori Mitsutoki under the master's signature reveal a flourishing workshop practice. The school's standing is confirmed at the highest levels of patronage: a ceremonial hosodachi mounting transmitted in the Ii family of Hikone, its entire suite of fittings by Teruhide with the clan's tachibana crest in takabori and gold iroe, documents the Ōmori masters as makers of daimyo ceremonial equipment. From the atelier radiated an exceptionally influential teaching lineage: Hidetomo (Ryūrinsai Ōmori Sadabei), recorded in the Kōto Kinkō Meifu as "a foremost disciple of Teruhide"; the Mito-branch Moriyama retainer Otsuzuka Hisanori, whose "dense, richly wrought inlay reached a uniquely individual realm" and drew praise in the Natsuo Chōkin-dan; Horie Kōsei, who entered the Ōmori school after Hamano Masayuki's death and later, as retained craftsman of the Hachisuka family of Awa, "trained many pupils of his own school"; and Izumi Hidetoshi, who studied under both Teruhide and Hidetomo. Through these channels the Ōmori manner — above all its sculptural waves and sumptuous relief — passed into the broader current of late-Edo machibori metalwork, securing the school's place as one of the most powerful branches of the Yokoya tradition in the tosogu canon. Learn more →
| Smith | Era | Designated |
|---|---|---|
| Teruhide英秀 | — | 15 |
| Chizuka Hisanori遅塚久則 | 1725-1795 | 9 |
| Horie Okinari堀江興成 | — | 7 |
| Terumitsu英満 | — | 4 |
| Terumasa英昌 | — | 0 |
A Hozon-certified fitting of notably superior craftsmanship and condition, often with signature or workmanship of high reference value.
The NBTHK (Nihon Bijutsu Tōken Hozon Kyōkai, the Society for the Preservation of Japanese Art Swords) is a public-interest incorporated foundation founded in 1948 and supervised by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkachō); it is based at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo. Its expert panels physically examine each submitted work (shinsa) and issue a certificate (kanteishō) ranking it by artistic and historical merit. NBTHK papers are the most widely recognized standard of authentication for Japanese swords and fittings.
NBTHK official siteReturns/exchanges limited to defects caused by shipping (except willful misconduct or gross negligence by the company); customers must contact within 72 hours of receiving the product.
¥297,000