Pair of menuki on the theme of the cockfight, tōkei (闘鶏), one of the court festivities held on the third day of the third month. Each piece shows a courtier wearing an eboshi, reclining and holding a rooster, sculpted in the round in black shakudō with gold robes and gold maple leaves and stars on the tunic. The carving has volume and movement, and the facial expressions are well rendered. The photographs show the signature split across two gilt plates on the reverse, wari-tanzaku-mei (割短冊銘): one reads 山崎 (Yamazaki) and the other 一賀 (Ichiga), with kaō (花押). According to the original seller, Ichiga was a pupil of Gotō Jōjō, worked in Kyoto (Yamashiro province) and excelled at realistic human figures in the Gotō manner with coloured metals. Stated dimensions: 33.5 mm for the omote and 36.2 mm for the ura. The photographs show good condition: the gold retains its lustre and no knocks or losses are visible. The original seller states an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper, not shown in the photographs, publication in Nihontō Kōza volume 7, and a fitted kiri box.