It is not often a sculptor has the opportunity to see his original work post-production, much less well over a decade after it was first released! And the opportunities to rework and make improvements on the original release based on information that has since become available I imagine are rarer still. You can imagine how pleased and thankful I am that such an opportunity is now before me.

On Friday, I received the master sculpts of MAEDA Toshiie and KATŌ Yoshiaki from Jim. Before anyone jumps to conclusions, Yoshiaki, my final creation for Ft. Duq, is fine as is: I will make sure it has suffered no damage in its peregrinations and wait to hear from Steve as to when he wants/needs it.

Which brings us to the senior Maeda. When I sculpted this bust, I had very little "real" information at my disposal, thus I harangued the local government of Kanazawa for a comprehensive digital photo-file of the statue of our subject that is located on the grounds of Kanazawa Castle, Ishikawa Prefecture: this was the basis of our depiction. Within a couple of years, my personal library had grown significantly, and some of the relatively more specialized references had made their way into my possession. It was only then that I discovered the true shape and dimensions of the elder Maeda's catfish tail crest (I was originally working from but a single B&W photograph), and the fact that his "heraldic garment" bearing the image of Shoki the Demon-Queller, embroidered by his wife, was in fact a jimbaori, and not a haori as I had originally supposed.

The work to-be-done, as of this writing, is as follows:

• Rework the catfish tail crest (slightly longer and reduced volume) [nb: while IMO this is obviously a namazubi-no-kabuto, the more recent references feel that this is a variant of a naga-eboshi. Further research is definitely warranted. . .
• Reworking the yak-hair drape on the shikoro (best described as "thinning down", or relatively wispier). Also, reduce the number of lames on the shikoro.
• "Converting" the haori into a jimbaori. Not surprisingly, I still do not have an image of the front of the garment, as is the case with most Sengoku-period heraldic garments [nb: should anyone have an image of the front of this particular jimbaori, please contact me.]. Nonetheless, a reasonable reconstruction can be made. Also, I intend to recreate the embroidery-enhanced appliqué of Shoki.

My second engagement with the MAEDA père is scheduled to begin within the fortnight . . .

Until then. . .


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