The Kogai Guide: From Heian Origins to Higo Metalwork's Four Schools—Your Gateway to Sword Fittings Collecting

Kourai: A Unique Presence Among Japanese Sword Fittings

The kourai is a slender metal tool inserted into a dedicated groove (kourai-bi) built into the scabbard of a Japanese sword, originally said to have been used for grooming hair. Typically 20-22 cm in length and 1-2 cm in width, it has a distinctive shape with one end wider than the other.

While tsuba, menuki, and fuchigashira are relatively well-known among sword fittings, the kourai is a prime example of something many people have never heard of. However, the kourai is an important element in completing the koshirae of a Japanese sword, and Edo period metalworkers devoted their highest technical skills to the design of the kourai.

Historical Origins of the Kourai: From Heian Court Culture to the Samurai

The prototype of the kourai can be traced to hair ornaments used by Heian period court women. During this era, kourai were usually made of wood or ivory, while metal versions symbolized nobility. From the Kamakura period onward, as the samurai class rose to prominence, the kourai became incorporated into armor and weaponry as a practical tool.

There are several theories about the use of the kourai among the samurai. Besides the theory that it was used to tie back hair, there are theories that it functioned as an ear pick or as a tool for detailed work such as undoing seams. In any case, it was a practical implement carried daily and, as a part of sword fittings that was meant to be displayed, considerable care was devoted to its design.

Combination with the Koduka: The Three Fittings of the Uchigatana Koshirae

The koshirae of an uchigatana is considered complete when it includes three fittings: the kourai, the koduka, and the menuki. The koduka is a small blade (approximately 10 cm in blade length) inserted into the sword scabbard and was used for multiple purposes such as cutting paper, severing cord, and eating. The kourai and koduka were customarily made as a pair by the same metalworker, with matching designs as a matter of etiquette.

In the sword fitting market from the mid-Muromachi period through the early Edo period, dominated by the Goto family, the combination of Goto-style kourai, koduka, and menuki became established as the "standard finest works" among the samurai. The seventeen generations of the Goto family, beginning with Goto Yujō, continued as official suppliers to the shogunate until the end of the Edo period, and the extant kourai and koduka made by the Goto family are evaluated as the finest examples of kinko art.

Edo Period Metalworking Techniques: The Technical Skills That Color Kourai Design

Edo period metalworkers employed diverse techniques in the creation of kourai.

• Nikubori (sculptural carving): A technique for carving metal surfaces three-dimensionally to create raised designs. Classical motifs favored by the Goto family, such as "bamboo and sparrows" and "plum and nightingale," were often expressed through nikubori.
• Zogan (inlay): A technique for inlaying silver and copper into a gold ground. The combination of multiple materials—such as expressing leaf veins through gold line inlay on a shibuichi (an alloy of silver and copper) ground—enriched the expression of the kourai.
• Nanako-uchi (fish-egg texture): A technique for evenly striking fine dots into the background metal. The regularly arranged, fine dots resembling fish eggs create an effect that enhances the figure placed upon them. This was also a technique favored by Higo metalworkers.

Higo Kourai: An Austere Aesthetic

The kourai created by Higo metalworkers from Higo (Kumamoto) possess a concise and powerful aesthetic in contrast to the Goto family style. Higo metalwork, represented by four schools—Hayashi, Nishigaki, Hirata, and Shimizu—created kourai as part of their distinctive aesthetic, the "Higo koshirae," which was established from the mid-Edo period onward.

Higo kourai, which minimize decoration and create meaning through only minimal piercing in an iron ground and sparse gold and silver inlay, embody the "aesthetics of subtraction" that corresponds to the beauty consciousness of the tea ceremony.

Extant Masterpieces and Points of Appreciation

Among the famous kourai that survive to the present day, representative examples include peony-motif kourai by the Goto family, an iron-raised kourai by Higo metalworker Hayashi Matashichi, and a fierce tiger-motif kourai by Edo master craftsman Yokotani Sōmin.

When appreciating a kourai, appreciation deepens when attention is given to the following three points:

1. The theme of the design (auspicious motifs, samurai culture motifs, or literati preferences)
2. Materials and techniques (the color of the metal, the precision of the inlay, the depth of the carving)
3. The unity of pairing with the koduka

Among sword fittings, kourai are a relatively accessible field, making them an appropriate entry point for beginning collectors to experience the precision of metalworking.

The Historical Position of the Goto Family

Goto Yujō (1440-1512), the founder, served the Ashikaga shogun family during the mid-Muromachi period and established the Goto family as a hereditary metalworking profession. Subsequently, the lineage continued through second-generation Jōshin and third-generation Jōkei, and was organized as official suppliers to the Edo shogunate, continuing unbroken to the seventeenth generation at the end of the Edo period. The continuation of the family craft over approximately four hundred years beginning in the mid-Muromachi period is the defining characteristic that distinguishes the Goto family from other metalworking schools, and is the source of both the rarity and authority of extant Goto works.

When collecting kourai and koduka, it is important to verify not only whether they are by the Goto family, but also the consistency of school, period, and design, as well as the unity as a pair. High-quality pairs often command valuations more than double that of single pieces. The metalworking technique and refinement cultivated by the Goto family from the mid-Muromachi period remain indispensable foundational knowledge for sword fitting collectors to this day.