The School of Hizen Tadayoshi - Saga, Hizen, Japan 1598-1871

To understand the different signatures, you have to know the entire history of the individual smiths concerned. When they were born, how old they were when their fathers died, how many children they had, who their students were, and when they died. Where they lived and worked and who commissioned them. You should understand when they received their titles and honours, and from whom. When you collate this tremendous amount of information into one readable book, only then can you fully understand why there are so many variations in the 9 generations of mainline signatures; only then can you even begin to comprehend ................................................The School of Tadayoshi.

         20 Years of Study and over 3½ years dedicated writing

Over 500 Explanatory Images and Oshigata
38 Colour Photographs
30 Colour Prints including a set of Kuniyoshi prints
9 Colour Spreadsheets of Data
Over 68,000 words of text
214  Pages crammed with chronological information about the Tadayoshi
Foreword by Clive Sinclaire, Chairman, UK Token Society
A variety of Japanese art from the Author's private collection
All the recognized 'Tadayoshi' signatures shown in oshigata form and explained

The bad news is the book is now SOLD OUT, the CD Version has been discontinued, but the GOOD NEWS is a pdf DOWNLOAD is available. The download has additional information in it. Please scroll down for more info. Some original books may be available online through specialist book dealers (last time I checked they were selling for around US$800 if you can find one!)
 

By Roger Robertshaw