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The ko-kinko workers should be subdivided into three groups: the Mino Goto, the Ko-Goto (sometimes referred to as the Jidai-Goto), and the independent ko-kinko. The ko-kinko worked in kawarigane (soft metal) of shakudo or yamagane in most cases. It would seem that the subdivisions of the ko-kinko and the school of Goto Yujo had a parallel development and are mixed. Before Goto Yujo's time there was great metal work as fine as any the Goto produced, such as the objects in the Shosoin and the great objects of the Heian period.
Tradition says that the Ko-Goto were descendants of the Mino Goto workers. There is little proof for this theory but it would seem to be true. There is some evidence that the inter-relationship of the ko-kinko workers was so strong that a clear distinction between the various subdivisions is almost impossible. By the end of the Edo age some of the ko-kinko seemed to have become tachi-kanagushi. Future research will be necessary before an understanding of the ko-kinko can be presented. |
