Saigyo Hoshi Contemplating mount Fuiji (Saigyō ni Fuj)
Edo period, 18th century
Tsuba diameter: 7.9cm
NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsogu
All three elements (tsuba, kozuka and menuki) are made in copper with shakudo takazogan and details in gold and silver, carved and inlaid with the poet-priest Saigyo Hoshi standing, gazing up at the peak of Mount Fuji.
Saigyō Hōshi (1118–1190) was a poet and Buddhist monk who, at the age of 22, abandoned his aristocratic privileges to embrace a life of pilgrimage and meditation, becoming a symbol of detachment and sensitivity toward nature. The scene of Saigyō contemplating Mount Fuji represents an archetype of Japanese spirituality, where the fleeting beauty of the landscape inspires reflections on the transience of life. This subject has been celebrated in the visual arts, becoming an icon of poetic melancholy and ascetic meditation. Mount Fuji, often depicted shrouded in clouds or smoke, evokes the Buddhist theme of impermanence and the tension between the material world and the spiritual realm.
SOLD
(Inv. #S-1)
