Netsuke Artist Biography - Masa-yuki
Kato Masa-yuki (also Masayuki) was the most famous netsukeshi (netsuke craftsman) and carver of the 'Asakusa School' who lived in the Yotsuya, Edo (now Tokyo) around the mid Edo era. Masa-yuki specialized in carving figures of traditional artisans and worked mostly in staghorn. He was active from about 1850 to the late 1800s.
Masa-yuki was known to have studied medicine but later devoted his life to carving netsuke. Some critics believed that Kato Masa-yuki was the student of Hosunsai Masa-yuki, others believed that they could well be the same man.
Masa-yuki's subjects are fine ivory carving of oni, Ofuku and heretic. Although only a limited numbers of his netsuke are found today, he is considered a master, a genius by authoritative netsuke writer Neil K Davey. See also Davey, Netsuke. A comprehensive study based on the M.T. Hindson Collection (London, 1982), No.s 546 & 547 for details of signed works by Masa-yuki in wood.