Yamada Sōbi

Yamada Sōbi (山田宗美) (December 23, 1871 – March 15, 1916) was a Japanese metallurgic artist.

He was the son of Yamada Munemitsu (died 1908), a ninth-generation armorer, who learned metal-hammering in a Myochin-school studio.

[1] He devised a proprietary technology that hammered out three-dimensional vases and okimono figurines from one piece of iron plate.

He became a master craftsman in this technique and was exhibited at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis in 1904, where he won a prize.

[3] An oviform iron vase with short everted neck, finely hammered in low relief with a heron in water by reeds, about 38.7 cm high achieved a sale at an auction by Christie's in April 2016 for a price of USD 30,000.