Nara Toshinaga

Nara Toshinaga was a sword-fittings metalworker active in the mid-Edo period (1667–1737). Together with Tsuchiya Yasuchika and Sugiura Jōi, he is one of the Nara Sansaku (Three Masters of the Nara school) and holds a place in the history of metalwork. As a representative practitioner of the Nara school, he demonstrated the highest level of Edo-period metal art through superb carving techniques and original designs.

Toshinaga excelled at takaniku-bori (high relief), depicting figures and flower-and-bird scenes in a painterly manner. He made extensive use of colored metals in his colored-metal decoration and inlay, and he is known for a bold style of high-relief inlay and colored-metal work.

Toshinaga made far more fuchi-kashira (collar and pommel fittings) than tsuba. His fuchi-kashira have a low-profile construction unique to him. Most are brass-ground, and some are shakudō- or shibuichi-ground. All of his tsuba are on thick iron grounds and feature vigorous, precise high-relief carving and inlay. The tsuba with Ōmori Hikoshichi, the tsuba with the Mure-Takamatsu scene, and the tsuba with a tiger in the rain are all designated Important Cultural Properties.

In the Nara school, Toshinaga is regarded as a master who revived the school, and the period after him is called Shin-Nara (New Nara). Today, his works are held by the Tokyo National Museum, Eisei Bunko, The University Art Museum, Tokyo University of the Arts, and other collections, and they are highly valued as masterpieces of Edo metalwork.