Kinko menuki worked in shakudo and shaped as oxen, with gold and silver highlights picking out the detail. They are unsigned and are offered used.

Menuki sit beneath the handle wrap on a Japanese sword, and kinko work means soft-metal craftsmanship rather than iron. Here the dark shakudo gives the oxen their body, and the gold and silver are used as accents. For a Montana collector of Japanese fittings these are a subject piece for a tosogu display, or a candidate to mount on a katana or wakizashi that is being rewrapped. No signature is present, so the appeal rests on the subject and the quality of the soft-metal work shown in the photographs. Oxen are a quieter motif than dragons or horses, which is part of why a collector building a varied display would want them. Keep them dry and unpolished.

Key features

• Kinko menuki, shakudo oxen
• Gold and silver highlights
• Unsigned
• Used

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