Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/243



Fugitive references to the fact that swords have been more or less ornamented from ancient times are found in old records, and it is said that some learned antiquarians claim to have information about the matter. But it is exceedingly difficult to ascertain the exact circumstances relating to the origin of the ornaments known under the general name kodōgu (small furniture). Doubtless they were suggested at the outset by some idea of utility. It is only possible to state here the views embodied in medival annals and entertained by scholars of modern times. In old families of artists and among persons that give professional instruction in polite accomplishments many opinions have been handed down traditionally. Sometimes these opinions are kept mysteriously secret, but of course they become known at last, and then too often they are found to be conflicting or to be based on some silly theories about the "Five Elements" of Chinese philosophy. Everything of that kind is excluded from this volume.

The menuki was originally a species of "nut" into which were inserted the ends of the rivet (mekugi) used for attaching the haft of the sword to the hilt. Thus the menuki not only held the rivet in its place, but also covered its ends (vide the learned Hakuseki's treatise on arms and armour). But in later days the mekugi and the menuki became quite distinct. An old-time poet writes: "Whose son is he, girding on a sword with silver menuki, that walks the streets of Nara city?" from which it may be inferred that the tachi (curved sword) of the Nara epoch (eighth century) had sometimes silver ornaments. Again, in the Annals of the Kamakura Era, mention is made of an "ox-shaped menuki" but nothing is said of its material or of its maker. The menuki chiselled in high relief, as used in the present day, is supposed to have been first made by Goto Yūjō (1439-1512), but whether there were any such before his time is not known. Tradition affirms that before Yūjō's era there lived an artist called