Raden koshirae

[Ken-Hawaii]

I own two yari, both in raden koshirae. But I'm trying to find out more about what exactly "raden" means, the process of making it, & how it got started. Using mother-of-pearl & shells for decoration seems to go back at least to Kamakura times, but I can't find any sources.

 

Any info out there?

 

Ken

[John A Stuart]

Raden 螺鈿 means mother of pearl. When we look at the kanji the first 螺 nishi (ra) is actually a freshwater shellfish and the second 鈿 kanzashi (den) is an hair ornament. Originally these shellfish were used to make these ornaments and the name for mother of pearl came from that. This use of shells would have been Jomon period or even earlier. As to sources for use on saya, no data. John

[kaigunair]

great explanation!

 

Personally, I have yet to see raden work that appeals to me other than some saya work, and usually the lacquer has some other color than black or texturing. When I see it on katana stands, it reminds me of overly gaudy export work or chinese fakes, esp when on black black ground. I dunno why I can't seem to appreciate it.

 

Would love to see examples of great raden work (perhaps I'm only seeing the junk stuff)...

[tony edmunds]

Not Nihonto related but an example of fine raden work on a meiji period suzuribako in my collection.

I really like the effect and greatly admire the work involved.

 

Regards

Tony

[Ken-Hawaii]

It took me awhile to figure out where this post was relocated, but many thanks for that info, John. Makes a lot of sense. If you run across any sources for raden on saya, though, please let me know.

 

Ken

[Nickupero]

Something from my collection with Raden work since were on the topic, a Yari Koshirae.

Seeing it in pictures doesn't do it justice, when you hold it in hand you realize just how much work and patience went into it.

Sorry if I didn't contribute to your search Ken!