Kaneie

Japanese: 金家 - かねいえ

Year of birth: Year of birth and death unknown. A sword fitting metalworker from the late Muromachi and Momoyama periods. From the inscriptions on his works, we know that he lived in Fushimi, Yamashiro Province (Kyoto City), but his detailed career is unknown. He is famous as the founder of the E-style tsuba, and together with Nobuie, who appeared around the same time as him, he is one of the leading tsuba craftsmen in Japan. The E-style tsuba devised by Kaneie is characterized by the seamless incorporation of pictorial expression into the tsuba, and was a groundbreaking innovation that revolutionized tsuba designs up until that point, which seemed to be limited to variations in patterns and designs. In order to express pictorial designs on the limited decorative surface of the tsuba, he freely used geometric shapes such as round and oblong shapes as well as unusual shapes such as quince and fist shapes. All the metals are made of thin iron, and the designs are basically created with strong hoe carvings, with very small amounts of colored metal such as gold, silver, brass, and copper inlaid to create a color contrast effect in the monotone black world of the iron base, and various other ingenious designs are used. In general, the style of the pieces is simple and subdued. The designs include paintings such as Kasugano, pagoda landscapes, fishing boats, reed geese, and woodcutter's return, as well as Bodhidharma, Monkey Captures the Moon, Hukei Sanxiao, and Zhang Guolao, which are based on tales from Buddhist scriptures and Chinese historical events. There are two types of inscriptions: "Sumikin Family of Fushimi, Joshu" and "Sumikin Family of Fushimi, Yamashiro Province," and both have the residence carved to the right of the cutting edge and the "Kin Family" carved to the left. His representative works include the Important Cultural Property "Kasugano Tsuba" (private collection), "Reeding Wild Geese Tsuba" (Kurokawa Institute of Ancient Culture Collection), and "Dharma Tsuba" (private collection). In particular, the "Kasugano Tsuba" beautifully expresses the sense of distance between the distant mountains depicted by sukude carving and the male and female deer playing under a maple tree in the foreground through hammer marks on the ground, and the maple leaves are inlaid with gold, the deer with silver, and the distant mountain torii gate with copper to enhance the color effect, demonstrating the true essence of his skill. Since Kaneke tsuba were already highly regarded in the Edo period, many counterfeits were made. <References> Uemori Taijo, "Kaneke Studies"

(Kashima Masaru)

Source: Asahi Japanese Historical Biography: Asahi Shimbun Publications Inc. About Asahi Japanese Historical Biography

Japanese:

生年：生没年不詳
室町末期・桃山時代の刀装金工家。作品の銘から山城国伏見(京都市)に住したことが知られる以外,詳しい経歴は不明。絵風鐔の開祖として著名で,彼と前後して現れた信家と共に日本の鐔工を代表する存在である。金家の考案した絵風鐔は,絵画的表現を鐔に破綻なく取り入れたところに特色があり,文様や図案上のバリエーションに終始していた感のあるそれまでの鐔の意匠を一新する画期的なものであった。鐔という限られた装飾面に絵画的な図柄を表すために,鐔の形に丸形や撫角形といった幾何学的なもののほかに木瓜形や拳形など変わり形のものも自由に用いている。地金はすべて薄手の鉄地で,図柄は力強い鋤彫りで表すことを基本とし,これにごくわずかに金,銀,真鍮,素銅などの色金を象嵌することにより,鉄地の黒一色のモノトーンの世界に色彩対比の効果をあげるなど様々な工夫を凝らしている。作風は概して枯淡な味わいを示すものが多い。図柄には,春日野,塔山水,漁舟,蘆雁,帰樵など絵画風のほかに仏典の説話や中国の故事から取材した達磨,猿猴捕月,虎渓三笑,張果老などもある。銘には「城州伏見住金家」と「山城国伏見住金家」の2種があり,いずれも切羽台の右に居住地を,左に「金家」を切り分けている。代表作には重要文化財「春日野図鐔」(個人蔵),「蘆雁図鐔」(黒川古文化研究所蔵),「達磨図鐔」(個人蔵)などがある。なかでも「春日野図鐔」は,鋤出彫りによって表された遠山と近景に配された楓樹の下で遊ぶ雌雄の鹿との遠近感が,地に施された鎚目によって見事に表され,また楓には金象嵌,鹿には銀象嵌,遠山の鳥居には素銅を象嵌して色彩効果を高め,彼の技量の真骨頂を示す。江戸時代には,すでに金家の鐔は高い評価を受けていたため,多くの偽作も作られている。<参考文献>上森岱乗『金家の研究』

(加島勝)

出典　朝日日本歴史人物事典：（株）朝日新聞出版朝日日本歴史人物事典について　情報

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