Mokume-gane

Mokume-gane (木目金, Mokumegane) is a Japanese metalworking procedure which produces a mixed-metal laminate with distinctive layered patterns. Mokume gane translates closely to "wood grain metal" or "wood eye metal", describing the way the metal takes on the appearance of natural wood grain.

Mokume-gane has been used to create many artistic objects. Though the technique was first created to decorate swords, the art survives today mostly in the form of jewelry and hollowware.

History

First made in 17th-century Japan, mokume-gane was used only for swords. As the traditional samurai sword stopped serving as a weapon and became largely a status symbol, a demand arose for elaborate decorative handles and sheaths.

To meet this demand, Denbei Shoami (1651–1728), a master metalworker from Akita prefecture, first came up with the process for creating mokume-gane. He initially called his product guri bori for its simplest form's resemblance to guri, a type of carved lacquerwork with alternating layers of red and black. Other historical names for it were kasumi-uchi (cloud metal), itame-gane (wood-grain metal), and yosefuki.