Name: A SOFTWOOD BOKUTO [WOODEN SWORD]
Brand: EDO PERIOD (LATE 18TH CENTURY)
Price: 2000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

A SOFTWOOD BOKUTO [WOODEN SWORD]
EDO PERIOD (LATE 18TH CENTURY)
In the form of whale, with shakudo and gilt eyes, silver teeth, silver himotoshi, a poem inscribed in gold lacquer, with a silk brocade bag, the tomobako [original wood box] with inscriptions by Kada Nobuyoshi and dated kanoe-inu (1790), accompanied by an old paper with a poem signed Yahata Kokei, Kanda rojin
48 cm. long

Provenance:
Yahata Kokei, a poet of the mid-Edo period

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Lot Essay

According to the inscription on the wood box by Kada Nobuyoshi (1751-1828), three bokuto were made as a series and this is one of them. This bokuto was given to Yahata Kokei who was a poet active in the mid-Edo period.

The poem reads:
Umoregi mo umore hateneba
Abukuma no
namima no sakana ni
taguhetezo miru

This can be translated:
If the wood is not buried fully,
it is like a fish appearing amongst waves of the Abukuma River

The wood here is probably used as a metaphor of ordinary, inconspicuous people who do not usually stand out. The poem suggests that, if they keep up and are not fully buried, they will eventually come up to the surface and be recognised just like a fish in the Abukuma River.