Uchidashi Yukinoshita Dou and Sode

ERA: EDO

STYLE: Shishi uchidashi yukinoshita dou with sode

SCHOOL: Myouchin

REGION: Kyushu

SIGNATURE: None visible

OWNER: Shimazu Clan



This is a very nice high quality dou of the Yukinoshita syle that was the most popular medium for uchidashi (repose) work by the Myouchin armor smiths in the last part of the Edo period. The dou is composed of very thick, heavy iron that has had the front plate hammered from behind and carved from the front to represent a shishi (mythical lion animal). The work was intentionally done to appear rustic which gives a very smooth and blurry feeling to the image, almost making it appear as a dream. The dou is finished with stenciled dou skin that has a very colorful and unusual European style arabesque pattern that was likely introduced through trade in Kyushu. Kagoshima and the Shimazu family had close contact with Europeans from the 1500s so it would not be unlikely that they used imported patterns such as this. The metal fittings on the dou are made of solid shakudo and are of the highest quality and detail. The breast rings boldly show the Shimazu clan’s “cross in circle” design on a background of very tiny nanako. The belt which holds the kusazuri (tassets) to the dou has had a reinforcing leather strip added at a later date, but is in very strong condition. The kusazuri are composed of true scale (hon kozane) that are made of lacquered leather. Unusually, the inside of the dou is lacquered Red rather than byakudan, black or ki which is most common for yukinoshita. I do not know the significance of the red. This dou comes with a set of matching shishi sode that are also uchidashi and carved from the front. However, I believe the sode to have been made earlier and by a different school. I believe them to have been produced by the Okisato school rather than the Myouchin who produced the dou as the sode have a much more complex texture to the iron, having fukure (air pockets) and granular outcroppings of iron texture in places. Their work is simlar yet slightly more detailed than dou. A very nice dou in very nice condition.

 

SOLD