Ezo Menuki

Of all the early menuki Ezo pieces are considered the oldest. In my early studies in Japan  ( 1960's) they were always treated as lessor works. The reason for this was that they were always thought to have some connection to the Ainu. About the last 3rd of the 20th century more research was accomplished and the Japanese started to examine many of their earlier mountings and found many Ezo menuki were in those mounts. At the end of the 1970's Mr. Tom Buttweiler wrote his very informative article on the Ezo fittings and to this day it is the most ever written on the subject. It was hailed by Sasano Masayuki as being a great study on Ezo and we owe extensive gratitude to Tom for bringing awareness to this subject. Please see my Bushido magazines for 1979 for this great article.

These three below sets are all from the Muromachi era .Tthe shishi seem to show Mino and Goto traits while of Mid period and the large plum blossom branch menukis are of the late Muromachi.

BC17 Very  Large Plum Blossom Ezo Menuki,  Size: 8.5cm L x 1.8cm Ht , 3 3/8" L x 6/8" W, Muromachi era, In a custom fit Kiri wood box.

sold

BC18 Shishi Ezo Menuki,  Size:  4 cm x 1.9 cm , 1 9/16" L x 6/8"w, Muromachi era, In custom fitted kiri wood box.

Price: $500

BC19 Double Shishi Ezo menuki. Size: 64.5mm x 18.5mm x 6mm thick.

Here is another pair of custom boxed menuki from my Ezo collection. These are really in good condition and still have the pins in the back. Early Ezo that were used on pre Muromachi swords are of the largest menuki encountered. Because they were long they have the center pin and will have a smaller one close to one end to keep them from swiveling. This great pair have the two pins in the back of each menuki. Thirty years ago when Tom Buttweiler and I were chasing after every early menuki we saw , I used to think that the menuki could be classified into two groups. The Ezo and the Umetada work copying Ezo. I thought that the menuki that were pitch black where they were worn were Ezo and the ones that had a silvery color were Umetada. Years later after having many Ezo and Umetada signed menuki I have found that this is not always true. The reason is that I think some of the early Ezo that could be as early as a couple of hundred years prior to Muromachi and the Muromachi pieces were made with many different metals. In all cases the base metal didn't make any difference because it was to be plated gold. I have found most of the signed Umetada to have a silver color but I have also encountered pieces that are also black. There are other things to look for to determine early Ezo  but I will not go into that right now. This pair has all the traits of early Ezo.

Price: $2000