The Saddle That Carried More Than a Rider

Kashiwa Mimizuku Raden Saddle (柏木兎螺鈿鞍)

Kashiwa Mimizuku Raden Saddle

At first glance, it is simply a saddle. Look closer, and the surface begins to shimmer, with small pieces of shell catching the light. This is the Kashiwa Mimizuku Raden Saddle (柏木兎螺鈿鞍, Kashiwa Mimizuku Raden Kura), a National Treasure held by the Eisei Bunko Museum in Tokyo. The name describes the design: kashiwa (柏) is the daimyo oak, and mimizuku (木兎) is the horned owl.

Its date is not settled. The national designation database places it in the Heian period, the Eisei Bunko website in the late Heian period, and the Eisei Bunko collection list in the Kamakura period (13th century).

The saddle is wood coated in black lacquer. Set into it is mother-of-pearl, a technique known as raden (螺鈿), in which pieces of iridescent shell are inlaid to make a pattern. Here, oak branches stretch across the form, and owls perch on them.

Form and Function, Interwoven

A Japanese saddle of this kind is built from three main parts:

• The seat (居木 / igi), where the rider sits

• The front arch (前輪 / maewa)

• The rear arch (後輪 / shizuwa)

The national designation database gives the front arch as 29.9 cm high, the rear arch as 29.0 cm and the seat as 41.8 cm long. Eisei Bunko's own figures differ slightly.

The raden decoration is spread across all three parts. The outer faces of both arches show the owl perched on oak branches, while the inner faces and the seat carry broken sprays of oak. The pattern wraps around the whole object, and with every movement of the horse the shell would have caught the light.

A Saddle in Literature and Power

The motif appears in the medieval war tale Heiji Monogatari (平治物語). Eisei Bunko cites the passage in which Minamoto no Yoritomo (源頼朝) rides a chestnut horse fitted with a saddle decorated with oak and owls.

That detail matters. An oak-and-owl saddle was worth naming in a war tale.

This saddle itself is said to have been given by the shōgun Ashikaga Yoshiteru (足利義輝) to Hosokawa Yūsai (細川幽斎), also known as Hosokawa Fujitaka (細川藤孝). It stayed in the Hosokawa family. Today it belongs to Eisei Bunko, which Hosokawa Moritatsu (細川護立) founded in 1950 to preserve the Hosokawa collection. In this sense, the saddle is a record of lineage as well as a work of art.

Beyond Utility: Why It Matters

Think of a finely made watch or a ceremonial sword: functional, yes, but valued for more than what it does. The saddle is like that. Its worth lies in skill and heritage as much as in use.

Perhaps this is where its quiet power lies. Something designed for movement can still hold stillness, a glimmer of light held in shell.

Objects we use every day, such as cups, bowls and containers, can also hold more than their function. They can bring texture and a kind of quiet presence into daily life.

The shop's cups and bowls are far plainer than lacquer and shell. Even so, the EngiCrafts Etsy shop has matte black and wood-fired ceramics chosen for daily use, with irregular forms that reward a second look.