Dear tsuba, kinkō and tōsōgu lovers, I have a important new for all of you.
For the first time, a Japanese kinkō/ tsubakō will visit Europe for offering conference, exhibition and demonstration of some techniques such as sukashi, nanako tagane or zōgan, in a free and open event. The only problem is that he will only visit Spain, in fact, 3 different cities in Spain. Original plan was to visit more countries around Europe, but finally will be only in Spain. Despite this, I hope some of you, specially who lives nearby Spain, can attend some of this events. The kinkō / tsubakō that will visit us is Mr. Ōkawa Chikō Tōhōsai, 18th generation of the Bushū Edo-Itō school, as direct student of the 17th generation Itō Masayasu and the masters Hattori Nagamasa, and the National Treasure Umetani Yūmi. Mr. Ōkawa is a tsubakō with more than 40 years of experience, many of his tsuba was exhibited at Tōken Hakubutsukan and he won different awards of this and other institutions. At his 73 years old, Mr. Ōkawa keeps working every day on tsuba and tōsōgu at his small atelier in Kasukabe-Saitama.
Mr. Ōkawa will bring some of his awarded works and some of the last ones for a small exhibition. Also, he will offer a conference about the Bushū Edo-Itō school. Mr. Ōkawa will bring his own tagane sets, and some plates for making a demonstration of sukashi, nanako tagane, zōgan, etc.
The 3 cities, the places, days and hours are the following ones:
15 November 2019: Madrid. Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas at 11h. Free entrance but with inscription on this telephone: 0034 910505755.
18 November 2019: Vitoria. Museo Armería de Álava at 19h. Free entrance till the conference room get full.
20 November 2019: Zaragoza. Museo de Zaragoza at 19h. Free entrance till the conference room get full.
Despite Spain is a far country for many of you, I hope some could attend to any of this events and meet this great artist of kinkō tsuba.
Best regards,
Marcos Sala.
PhD Art History - tōsōgu.
Asia Research Group. Complutense University of Madrid.