Fish roe - Nanako

One of the metalworking techniques. Also written as 'Uonoko'. A technique in which a chisel with a small circular tip is hammered into the metal surface to make it look like millet grains are sprinkled on it. The name comes from the fact that the closely-spaced hammered marks look like fish eggs. Usually, they are hammered into the base of the metal, not the patterned parts. It is thought to have been introduced to Japan from China, but as the Shosoin documents refer to 'Uonoko hammering', it is known that there were already specialized craftsmen in the Nara period, and a Uonoko chisel used at that time is preserved in the Shosoin. Old examples of relics include an iron mirror excavated from the central stone of the tower of Sofukuji Temple in Shiga, which was founded in 668, and a copperplate Hokke-Setsuso-zu of Hase-dera Temple in Nara, which is said to have an inscription dated either 686 or 698.

From the Nara period through the Heian period, the way in which the fish roe was pounded was generally uneven, but as time went on, it became more orderly, and in the Edo period, unusual pounding styles such as 'alternate eye fish roe' and 'daimyo striped fish roe' appeared.

[Harada Kazutoshi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

金工技法の一つ。魚子とも書く。切っ先の刃が小円となった鏨(たがね)を打ち込み、金属の表面に細かい粟(あわ)粒をまいたようにみせる技法。隣接して密に打たれたさまが、あたかも魚の卵をまき散らしたようにみえるところからこの名がある。普通は文様部以外の地の部分に打たれる。日本には中国から伝播(でんぱ)したと考えられるが、『正倉院文書』に「魚々子打工」とみえるところから、奈良時代にはすでに専門工がいたことが知られ、正倉院には当時使用された魚々子鏨が伝存している。遺品の古い例としては、668年創建の滋賀・崇福寺塔心礎出土の鉄鏡や、686年とも698年銘ともいわれる奈良・長谷(はせ)寺の銅板法華説相図にみられるものがある。

　奈良時代から平安時代までは概して魚々子の打ち方は不ぞろいのものが多いが、時代が下るとともに整然と打たれるようになり、江戸時代には「互(ぐ)の目魚々子」とか「大名縞(しま)魚々子」といった変わり打ちも出現した。

［原田一敏］

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