Bought for a boy in May, kept in its box for the other eleven months.
A warrior in full lamellar armour on a rearing horse, cast in the same Takaoka foundries as the Buddhist figures and finished with gilt on the helmet crest, the armour lacing and the stirrups.
These are gogatsu-ningyo — figures set out for Boys' Day in May, along with the carp streamers. They are displayed for a fortnight and then packed away in a signed wooden box until the next year, which is why so many survive in good condition.
The horse and rider are modelled as one composition.
Cast in parts — horse, rider, weapon — and joined.
Armour lacing and harness are cut in after casting.
Coloured dark, with gold left where the light should catch.
The horse is where the caster shows off: four legs, a raised body, and a rider, all balanced on two points of contact.
The same note applies as to any Japanese art bronze. A sculptor prepares the model and the foundry casts the series; we record what the box says and nothing more.
In 1609 Maeda Toshinaga built a castle at Takaoka and settled seven casting families in a quarter beside it, the district still called Kanayamachi — the metal-workers' town. (Where exactly the seven came from is given differently in different accounts.) The castle was abandoned within six years. The foundry quarter was not, and it is still there.
Pieces are found one at a time, in Japan, and photographed before they are listed. Tell us what you are looking for, and we will write when something arrives that answers it.
We write when there is something to write about — some months twice, some months not at all.
Noted. We will write when something arrives.