Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 7.djvu/304

 kozuka and sold the whole en bloc! It is possible that many English collectors may thus be entertaining angels unawares.

The celebrated Nara family, which deserves and has received at least as much honour as the Yokoya, had its origin in the century under review. "Nara" is in this case a family name, not the name of a place. Toshiteru, an expert of Kyōtō and a pupil of the Goto school, was the first metal-chiseller of the family. He moved to Yedo in 1620, but it was not until the time of his son Toshimune (art name, Sotei) that the Nara workers began to be famous. Their style was then severe and simple, their favourite designs being crows perched on a withered branch, mandarin ducks in water, birds beside a stream, and such things. Toshiharu (art name, Sōyu, date 1680) abandoned this narrow range of subjects, and became a landscape carver of such consummate skill that the Yedo Court conferred on him the title of Yechizen no Kami, and he was thenceforth known in the world of art as Yechizen. The Nara family gave to Japan three of her greatest artists, Toshihara (1680), Toshihisa (1720) and Yasuchika (1730). The last two do not belong to the seventeenth century, but are mentioned here for the sake of convenience. These three are commonly spoken of as the Nara Sambuku-tsui, or "three pictures en suite of the Nara family." No artists stand higher in Japanese estimation. Toshiharu's art name was Sōyu; Yasuchika's was Tō-u, and Toshihisa is often called Tahei, but these appellations are not found upon their works. Yasuchika belongs really to the Tsuchiya family, but was adopted into the Nara. He ranks as the greatest of the three. They all carved in relief, but Toshihisa and Yasu-