Yokoya Soumin

A swordsmith in the mid-Edo period. Nicknamed Chojiro, later Jihee, and in his later years he went by the name Ton'an. He is said to be either the biological or adopted son of Soyo, the first head of the Yokotani family, who was a base carver for the Goto family and was known as an iebori (family carving) and served as the shogunate's official carver. He was born in Kyoto and lived in Edo, but was dissatisfied with the traditional iebori carving methods, so he quit the position his father had held and developed a new painterly style with free subject matter, materials and composition, founding machibori (town carving) as an alternative to iebori. His works are diverse, including kozuka (small sword), kogai (hairpin), menuki (menuki), and fuchigashira (bordered head), and include takanikobori (high-pitched carving) colored enamel on a shakudo nanako (fish-rod) ground, as well as katakiribori (single-cut carving) created by Somin on a shibuichi (silver-red) ground. His subjects include lions, peonies, horses, and tigers, and some of his works that served as sketches for Hanabusaiccho (horse tigers) still exist. His representative works include "Shakudo Peony and Lion Set," "Sixteen Lions in Three Places," and "Two Kings in Two Places." The family included his sons Muneyo, Yokotani Eisei, Yanagawa Naomasa, Omori Eisho, and Furukawa Genchin, but the Yokotani family did not fare well after that, while the offshoots of the family flourished.

[Harada Kazutoshi]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

江戸中期の装剣金工師。通称は長二郎、のち次兵衛(じへえ)、晩年は遯庵(とんあん)と号した。幕府御彫物役を勤め家彫(いえぼり)と称された後藤家の下地(したじ)職、横谷家初代宗与(そうよ)の実子とも養子ともいわれる。京都に生まれ江戸に在住したが、因襲にとらわれた家彫の彫法に飽き足らず、父以来の役を辞し、自由な題材、材質、構図による絵画的な新作風を展開し、家彫に対する町彫(まちぼり)を創立した。作品は小柄(こづか)、笄(こうがい)、目貫(めぬき)、縁頭(ふちがしら)など多岐にわたり、赤銅魚々子(しゃくどうななこ)地に高肉彫(たかにくぼり)色絵を施す技法のほか、四分一(しぶいち)（朧銀(ろうぎん)）地に宗珉創始による片切彫(かたきりぼり)のものがある。題材は獅子(しし)、牡丹(ぼたん)、馬、虎(とら)などが選ばれ、英一蝶(はなぶさいっちょう)の下絵になる作も現存している。代表作に『赤銅牡丹獅子揃物(そろいもの)』『十六疋(ひき)獅子図三所(みところ)物』『二王二所(ふたところ)物』などがある。一門に子の宗与、横谷英精、柳川直政(なおまさ)、大森英昌(えいしょう)、古川元珍(げんちん)らがいるが、横谷家はその後あまり振るわず、門下の分派が大いに栄えた。

［原田一敏］

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