JAPAN
them in clear sequence. Certainly one of the most important was the founding of the Yokoya family in Yedo by Sōyo, who worked from 1621 to 1643. Sōyo is supposed to have invented the style of chiselling called kata-kiri,—that is to say, cutting the lines of a design in channels of varying depth and width, so as to suggest brush-work rather than chiselling. It is impossible to say whether Sōyo really invented this style or whether he merely brought it into public notice by his great skill. At all events, its extensive practice dates from his time, and it was unquestionably one of the most potential additions made to the art in any era. Speaking broadly, incised chiselling, which had hitherto been mere etching, became thenceforth painting. The Japanese stand quite solitary in this work. They alone among the glyptic artists of the world have carried the element of directness so thoroughly into the ornamental chiselling of metallic surfaces that every line is completed by a single stroke of the tool, and that each line has its own special value in the scale of modelling. Sōyo received a handsome pension in perpetuity from the Yedo Court. He did not confine himself to kata-kiri work, but carved in relief also with grand force. His fame is eclipsed, however, by that of his grandson Sōmin (1680–1733), whom many connoisseurs count the greatest chiseller of metal that Japan ever produced. He scarcely deserves such unqualified praise, but he was certainly a grand artist, and in some directions he has never been surpassed. Beginning life with the position of chiseller to the Yedo Court and an annual allowance—hereditary since the time of his grandfather Sōyo—equivalent to about 2,011 yen yearly, he voluntarily resigned the distinction and its associated emoluments,
274
