History has been eminently careful to preserve the names and records of the men who chiselled sword furniture. The sword being regarded as the soul of the samurai, every one who contributed to its manufacture, whether as forger of the blade or sculptor of the furniture, was held in high repute. The Goto family worked steadily during 14 generations, and its 19th century representative--Goto Ichijo--will always be remembered as one of the family's greatest experts. But there were many others whose productions fully equalled and often excelled the best efforts of the Goto. The following list gives the names and periods of the most renowned families:-- (It should be noted that the division by centuries indicates the time of a family's origin. In a great majority of cases the representatives of each generation worked on through succeeding centuries). _15th and 16th Centuries._ Miyochin; Goto; Umetada; Muneta; Aoki; Soami; Nakai. _17th Century._ Kuwamura; Mizuno; Koichi; Nagayoshi; Kuninaga; Yoshishige; Katsugi; Tsuji; Muneyoshi; Tadahira; Shoami; Hosono; Yokoya; Nara; Okada; Okamoto; Kinai; Akao; Yoshioka; Hirata; Nomura; Wakabayashi; Inouye; Yasui; Chiyo; Kaneko; Uemura; Iwamoto. _18th Century._ Gorobei; Shoemon; Kikugawa; Yasuyama; Noda; Tamagawa; Fujita; Kikuoka; Kizaemon; Hamano; Omori; Okamoto; Kashiwaya; Kusakari; Shichibei; Ito. _19th Century._ Natsuo; Ishiguro; Yanagawa; Honjo; Tanaka; Okano; Kawarabayashi; Oda; and many masters of the Omori, Hamano and Iwamoto families, as well as the five experts, Shuraku, Temmin, Ryumin, Minjo and Minkoku. (W. An.; F. By.) Japanese Point of View. There is a radical difference between the points of view of the Japanese and the Western connoisseur in estimating the merits of sculpture in metal. The quality of the chiselling is the first feature to which the Japanese directs his attention; the decorative design is the prime object of the Occidental's attention. With very rare exceptions, the decorative motives of Japanese sword furniture were always supplied by painters. Hence it is that the Japanese connoisseur draws a clear distinction between the decorative design and its technical execution, crediting the former to the pictorial artist and the latter to the sculptor. He detects in the stroke of a chisel and the lines of a graving tool subjective beauties which appear to be hidden from the great majority of Western dilettanti. He estimates the rank of a specimen by the quality of the chisel-work. The Japanese _kinzoku-shi_ (metal sculptor) uses thirty-six principal classes of chisel, each with its distinctive name, and as most of these classes comprise from five to ten sub-varieties, his cutting and graving tools aggregate about two hundred and fifty. The Field for Sculptured Decoration.