Kogai yahoo.auction

[Mantis dude]

Hi all,

Just came across.this and was hoping to get some help with translating papers.  I believe it says wagon wheels.or chariot wheels and ffigure of praying mantis. mumei. something goto? Maybe shakudo at end

 

  It.would take me.forever with trying to decipher handwriting.  After the papers i need to.see if the price is crazy... If you didn't realize only interested in the mantis themed one.  Appreciate comments thanks.

Entire auction link is here https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/s1021830459?lang=en&rc=yaucc

Ken

[PhoenixDude]

it says 1, praying mantis figure or image kogai.
一、龍車螳螂図笄

[Mantis dude]

Thanks Jay, i should have been more specific., I'm really looking for the attribution "section".  I want to know.who.they are papering it to so i can evaluate it from there.  I didn't look at the seller but they way they are selling/ descriptions/ pricing that they aren't regular sellers of this category ( purely a guess on my part which could likely be wrong).  Appreciate the input.

Ken

[Curran]

Waki goto.  Aka. One of the other branches of the Goto family.

 

Sometimes the waki Goto stuff is simplified versions of mainline themes, and other times it can be somewhat creative in a way that minimally breaks the rules of the mainline Goto school.

I've owned two waki Goto sets over the years because of interesting designs- a set of interesting shi-shi and a kozuka that was a high grade workmanship variation on a classic Goto theme.

Some of the waki Goto stuff seems to have a bit more a sense of humor than the mainline Goto stuff.

 

龍車  Is literally Dragon Cart, though equivalent to Imperial Cart,

though I believe the Japanese use 竜車.  Not knowing the mythology or fable well, I am guessing the story is old enough that they use 龍車 instead of 竜車

as more appropriate in this particular story?

 

Interesting to me.

I wish my Japanese were better, but I am starting to work on that.

[Mantis dude]

Hi Curran,

First off good.to hear from you!  As I replied to Jay and put computer down, i thought something goto has to be waki goto but i fell asleep instead of looking it up.  i didn't realize they actually papered to waki goto.  I am used to hearing waki goto and then the branch but that is probably because anytime i looked up wakigoto it was in association with a particular name (usually a gimei lol).  Thanks for the help.

 

The story is an ancient chinese lore basically the king's chariot stopped with a praying mantis raising his claw to the chariot in middle of the road.  The king said if i had warriors like that he would rule the world.  The Japanese at some point turned it around and changed the lesson to don't be a mantis in the middle of the road (as brave as it is he would get crushed). I am not positive but that moral change is more modern i think.

 

Thanks again. And hope all have good Thanksgivings if you celebrate.

Ken

 

[Curran]

My pleasure.

It going back to a story from China might explain the Dragon Cart kanji.

 

Yes, Waki-Goto would show up as an attribution on papers in the past. 

In recent years they seem hesitant to say Waki-Goto unless signed by some specific person from the sideline school.

I was looking at a f/k earlier that was signed by one of the waki-goto guys. Like all 6 or 7 generations used the same name, but the signature confirmation books only have the mei for the shodai. As you can imagine, that causes trouble for us westerners. It takes a serious library to track down which generation along one of the waki goto lines.

 

[PhoenixDude]

On the side, I should change my handle to "Phoenix dude"...

[paul tsubadotinfo]

Really interesting that Auction, also the next piece looks good from the quality. https://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/f1021680139

Can anyone identify the signature (徳精　tokushou or tokusei?). I am not very familiar with those machibori signatures and this one does not look like one of the very famous masters.

However, items look nice but prices seem much too high!?

 

 

[Tanto54]

Hi Paul, "Tokusei" is read as Norikiyo, and he was a student of the Yokoya School (and is copying Somin's famous Shishi design here).

[paul tsubadotinfo]

Thanks George! Yes the relation to his Master is quite visible.

[Tanto54]

BTW @paul_tsuba_info I really like your "Tsuba Info" site - very informative (https://tsuba.info/schools/).  Great for helping people understand the different tosogu schools and some of the more famous makers.  Hope you continue to add to it!

[paul tsubadotinfo]

7 hours ago, Tanto54 said:

BTW @paul_tsuba_info I really like your "Tsuba Info" site - very informative (https://tsuba.info/schools/).  Great for helping people understand the different tosogu schools and some of the more famous makers.  Hope you continue to add to it!

Thank you George! Of course it is a lot of work, especially getting pictures of high quality items. But comments like yours motivate me to continue! Thanks a lot. If you have any improvement feedback let me know.