Seven kozuka (knife handles)

Edo period (1615-1868), late 18th/19th century

Edo period (1615-1868), late 18th/19th century
The first sentoku, inlaid in mixed metals with a monkey in a tortoiseshell costume approaching a fan and sake cup, signed Toto Eizan no fumoto Shinobugaoka ni oite Hamano Tsuten Nagayuki (Hamano Tsuten Nagayuki, at Shinobugaoka by the Kan'eiji Temple in Edo) with a kao; the second shakudo nanako, with courtiers making love by a gold screen, unsigned; the third shibuichi, minutely inlaid in mixed metals with a scene at a Shinto shrine, signed Hosono Sozaemon Masamori kore o choko (Hosono Sozaemon Masamori carved this) with a kao; the fourth iron, chased and inlaid with a Mongol holding a fan; the fifth shibuichi inlaid in mixed metals with a mounted Mongol archer preparing to fire an arrow, his leg-guard in the form of a lion, signed Shiunsai Hirochika with a kao; the sixth the moon and a gourd vine, signed Yasuchika no zu Negishi Shigure no Sato ni oite Noriyuki (Noriyuki, at Shigure Village in Negishi [Edo], [from a] design by [Tsuchiya] Yasuchika), with a seal mark; the seventh copper, chased and inlaid in mixed metals with a Mongolian archer beneath a pine tree, a bird flying overhead, unsigned; with six wood storage boxes. (13).