Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/275



T is certainly a close approximation to the truth to say that before the time of Yūjō, the first of the masters,—that is to say, before the year 1469, when he began to develop the style for which he afterwards became so famous,—chiselling in relief was not applied to the decoration of sword-ornaments in such a manner as to command public admiration. Some investigators carry the statement still farther: they allege that Gotō Yūjō actually invented relief carving. Possibly the assertion is true if it is understood in the sense of relief without the aid of the repoussé process. Decoration in relief had been applied to armour by the Miyōchin masters for certainly three centuries, and perhaps four, before Yūjō's era. But lightness being of prime importance in the case of armour, the artist naturally had recourse to the repoussé method for the raised parts of the decorative design, and though he used his chisel for finishing off the work, he never attempted to cut the design out of the solid metal. It was left to Gotō Yūjō to develop the potentialities of that method. An element of confusion has been introduced into this chapter of history by writers who represent the celebrated Kaneiye as having chiselled sword-guards with designs in relief before the time of Hūjō. , for example,