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Years ago we inherited this pin from a Japanese lady. Can anyone tell me what the signature says and anything else about him or the pin?

Howard Dennis

The signature reads 'Goto Yoshinori', followed by a kakihan or artist's seal. The name Goto refers to a school or lineage of metalworkers, active during the Edo period. I should date this pin early Meiji period, 1870s-1880s, at the start of the imposed reconversion of tsuba- and swordmakers into workshops manufacturing objects designed for the export markets.

Guy.

後藤義則

Japanese names are notoriously difficult to put into Roman letters but this appears to be something like GoTo or KoTo as the family name and GiSoku as the given name.

I was unable to find anything about this artist.

The kanji mark reads down as Goto Yoshinori (後藤義則), with a flourish beneath the name that amounts to a logo. Here's a link to information indicating that the same mark was in use by a master metalsmith working in the late Edo to Meiji Period. Sometimes successor generations of the same studio or family clone these marks, though your masks appear to have been around for awhile. Goto appears to be a geographic name.



Best regards,

Bill H.

URL Title :goto yoshinori

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