Ford Hallam

Hi Brian, yes, It seems self evident here, this is 100% Japanese in origin. The type of dragon is not an issue as far as I can see. As you imply, 'rules' are only limitations to the unimaginative. The sinuous rain-dragon is a common enough feature of Japanese art to make it a native of those islands. Both Hokusai and Kawanabe Kyosai created images in that style, Perhaps one of the reasons it was popular was precisely because it offers lots of room for creativity and whimsy in the way it is rendered. It's also worth noting that towards the end of the Edo period, as the economic and political situation became ever more uncertain there developed a taste for the bizarre and unconventional. A 4 fingered dragon might have been a subtle way of showing two fingers to the ruling establishment. I think that in almost all cases these sorts of 'rules' that collectors refer to are created long after the time the objects were made. And unless we actually can study every single example any such rules will obviously be based on an average of sorts. There will always be exceptions.

Hey Brian, yes, it us a nicely done dragon. I've seen a few done in this style that look as though they were all done by the same hand.

The Gold seal reads, Tou. This is the Kao of Tsuchiya Yasuchika I, one of the thrtee Nara San-saku. As a matter of interest I have a tanto tsuba with a very similar rain dragon and Tou seal. Whether it's a genuine Yasuchika, yours or mine, is a matter of speculation.

The cover doesn't look familiar but the material presented looks to be like that of the Soken Kisho, a late 18th century sword fanciers handbook.

In my opinion the second version is a modern hobbyist's work. Made in mild steel.

This National Treasure tebako is documented as having been once numbered among the treasures of the Horyuji temple, and has an early dedication to the temple inscribed on its base. As detailed by Komatsu Taishu in National Treasures of Japan (Tokyo National Museum, 1990, no. 190) the design reflects the Heian period custom of periodically immersing wooden ox-drawn cartwheels in a stream to prevent them from drying out and cracking. The same theme is found in the Heian period Sanjurokunin Kashu [Collection of the Thirty-Six Poets], the Ogimen Hoke-Kyo Sasshi [Fan Papers of the Lotus Sutra] in the Shitenno-ji collection, and other illustrated material of the Heian period. The Lotus Sutra had many devotees among the Heian nobility who would have used oxcarts as a means of personal transport, and that the wheels were seen as allusive of the floating lotus blossoms which give the sutra its name. This suggestion is given further weight by a phrase in the Butsu Amida Kyo sutra that ‘There are large lotuses like cartwheels in the Pure Land’. Edit to add: It's perhaps telling that the example John posted features Amida yasuri-me, radiating file marks representing the halo of the Buddha.

I doubt that this is in fact a soldered up construction but rather a typical pierced guard. I've not ever seen a soldered up strip antique tsuba myself.

not sure what the game is based on the examples offered thus far but I'll give it a go... Shakuhachi - saxophone Baroque chamber music - Miles Davis Classical ballet - the modern dance movement a la Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham et al. Buster Keaton - Bill Hicks Robert Johnson - Led Zeppelin

Hi Pete, it's quite possible. I think if we have a look at the social changes and trends/fashions of time it's not hard to imagine the exuberance and excitement that marked the period and that after years of strife the possibility of a new age dawning was no doubt quite a stimulus in all sorts of creative fields and social expressions.

I see Ed's tsuba as more a natural offspring of the Mino group, as are, imo, most such shakudo ko-kinko works. The Goto owe all to the Mino.

Ed, I love the little patches of 'warm up' nanako on the seppa-dai. I've never seen anything like that before, it's quite funny really. The seppa-dai seems to have a subtle egg shape to it too, which to me suggests an early koshirae form.

The invention of the non-ferrous mokume gane technique is attributed to Shoami Denbei so probably dates to around the start of the 18th century. Various layers of copper, silver, gold and other alloys are fused into solid billets and then forged down to sheet to be used as a decorative veneer, in the classical approach. The patterns are created by carving through the layers of metal between rounds of forging.

Perhaps. if they contained organic material inlay like mother of pearl and coral, gemstones like malachite or urushi.

It might be informative to read Henri Joly's 'Sword and Same" as it contains the Ko Hi Sei Gi by Hogitaro Inada, a fairly comprehensive Edo period text on same used on swords and saya. I cant recall off hand but I pretty sure it covers the sources of the varieties of ray used.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=792HjO4mPaw&list=RD792HjO4mPaw&start_radio=1&t=23

Ken, I don't have any reason to suspect that Heianjo tsuba are faked in modern times any more than any other type. This is the first one I've had serious doubt about. I do think that most, if not all, brass inlay work on tsuba, was done post 1620's for the reasons I've offered. The general picture I see is that once Japan was unified after Sekigahara and peace and stability was established and at this stage the warrior class are very concerned to set themselves up as much more than just the muscle for the military dictatorship. There's real move to embrace culture and to appear more refined. Add to this a 'flashy' new imported alloy from China, a reliable source of high culture in Edo period Japan, and perhaps a desire to revive and 'enhance' all those old and sombre looking sword guards that had seen hard campaigning. And so creative entrepreneurial crafts people offered their ideas.

Cheers Thomas, yes, been though it all. Interestingly the article Markus wrote tallies with my own conclusions, that brass production in Japan only started in the early 17th century. Evidence of imported brass is absent and zinc imparts are only evidenced in the 1620's. I treat Chinese archaeologists claims of zinc distillation earlier than the late Ming with caution where they contradict official period documents and records though. The thesis work by Zhou and a couple of others, runs to over 400 pages and is far more circumspect and detailed. With the earliest zinc distillation starting in northern India the Chinese were keen to discover the method for thie rown use. It appears that there was a lengthy period of less than efficient proto-distillation development before the Chinese eventually got a method worked out that did the job well enough to make it a seriously productive technology. The major spur for that technological breakthrough was the demand for metallic zinc in the Wanli period. Interestingly enough the Chinese method differs somewhat from that of the one used in Zawar. And while there was indeed a vigorous unofficial maritime trade I can find no reference of any pre-Edo imports of either brass or zinc. Coins, as I mentioned, don't yield anything like the alloy we see in early brass inlay work. As I wrote earlier, all I've tried to do is gather all the evidence and data I can and to form as reasonable and reliable a picture as I can, from which to build. I have deliberately avoided incorporating any unsubstantiated speculation or unverified 'tradition' because that what's muddied the story in the first place and made trying to make sense of what I could find so tricky.

As Chris suggests,

Thomas, there were a couple of low results but it was inevitably always by a factor or two of the 15-20% zinc loss suggesting remelting of scrap pieces, which is standard practice. I'd have to trawl though the data tables to find them... And I didn't determine that ages in the first place at all. I simply assed the analytical data and tried to see what it suggested in relation to the other evidence and historical facts I was able to amass, as outlined in my earlier post. I've applied the same research method to all of the metals and alloys used in pre-modern Japan.

Hi Thomas, the analysis work was done by myself using XRF. The V&A has a large body of examples from a variety of sources and donations so they provide a good sampling. I tested the lot and was quite surprised at the uniformity. Taking into account the zinc loss on melting I mentioned the data is remarkably consistent in suggesting a starting alloy of 2 thirds copper and 1 third zinc. And that's a standard alloy composition that was prescribed in China for official use once metallic zinc supplies were established. It will all be published very soon, before Christmas.

As for the notion that Onin guards were made in that period, in Kyoto, I think this description of the harsh reality makes it unlikely.

T. Sinclair I've previously posted a large amount of information on the matter on this forum. I wouldn't call it a theory however, merely a picture of the likely reality back then based on the evidence we can point to. It'd be helpful though if those we are positing a pre-Edo use of brass in any substantial amount could provide some evidence and/or rationale to address, don't you think? But if it's of any help here's a simplified presentation of what we can say with a reasonable degree of certainty. Zinc was first 'discovered' in Japan in 1879 by a foreign geology and mining advisor John Milne. The first zinc extraction in Japan began in 1903. Before the development of distillation technology that allowed for metallic zinc to be extracted from the basic ore (calamine) brass was made by a crude diffusion process whereby the crushed zinc ore was mixed with small pieces of copper and charcoal in a sealed jar and heated for a few hours at around 900 degrees centigrade. This process was carried out as far back as 2500 years ago to produce the earliest brasses. The alloy thus produced is now referred to as cementation brass. The most noticeable feature of brasses made in this way is the lack of uniformity in terms of composition. There was no way to control or know how much zinc was getting into the alloy. About 1000 years ago in Zawar, Northern India, the earliest zinc distillation process was developed. For around 500 years Muslim traders operating out of Alexandria had an effective monopoly on trade of brass and brass objects exported out of Zawar. The Portuguese, under Vasco de Gama, arrived on the West coast of India in 1498 and start their own trading operations. There has been some speculation that Portuguese traders may have been involved in zinc export in the late 16th century but this cannot be established as a certainty with the limited documents that have so far been discovered. Zawar, the India zinc production centre is 1300 km north of Goa, the Portuguese trading centre. Zinc and brass production in Zawar begins to decline throughout the 16th century (1500's) and by the start of the 17th century India was importing zinc from China. In China the cementation process had been in use for many hundreds of years but cementation brass objects were typically regarded as quite precious and the material reserved for ritual and religious use. Zinc content is variable but it's generally accepted that the process deliver a maximum of around 22% zinc brass and only when the cementation process is repeated 4 times, the so called 4 fire brass mentioned in Chinese texts. Chinese coins, which some regard as the original source of brass in early iron guards did include zinc, no doubt derived from cementation brass, but also significant amounts of tin and lead. This type of alloy is more of a bronze and can’t be used to make wire. Official trade with China came to a halt 1549. The process of distilling metallic zinc from zinc ores in China developed in the Wanli period (1573 - 1620) of the Ming Dynasty. This was by order of the government in response to the need to produce coinage and the need for accurate control of the alloying processes. It has been demonstrated reasonably convincingly that by the 17th century Portuguese traders out of Macao and Chinese merchants in Canton where involved in exporting zinc to Japan. By 1637 this trade involved more than 180 000kg of zinc a year. Recent analysis work carried out at the V&A museum in London, of 43 Onin, Heianjo and Yoshiro tsuba revealed a remarkable degree of uniformity in terms of brass alloy composition and levels of zinc content averaging around 28%. This is very strong evidence of the use of metallic zinc in making the brass alloy. It's probably worth noting here that with each melting of brass and indeed the initial making of the alloy between 15 to 20% of the zinc vaporises and is lost. The copper content of this brass is also shown to be especially pure for pre-modern copper, essentially only a trace, around 0.35%, of lead, indicating a probable Japanese origin. Japanese copper was renowned in Europe as being the finest available in the pre-industrial world.

These late pieces that present as a sort of poor man's Goto really are a pain to try and properly restore. More often than than not the base alloy isn't a real shakudo so recovering a good black patina is very difficult. Re-doing the gilding isn't too hard but the masking out in preparation it time consuming so can be costly. Generally speaking I'd suggest the costs involved would not make restoration of this type of tosogu worthwhile. It's funny but it's almost a rule that lesser quality pieces invariably take far more work to try and get looking reasonable than when working with pieces, that despite their need for restoration, are made well and with good quality materials. It's that old adage; you can't make a silk purse out of a pigs ear.

“Since tradition decrees that brass was first imported from China in the Eikyō era (1429-1441), “Tsuba. An Aesthetic Study” by Kazutaro Torigoye and Robert E. Haynes This claim has been a real bug bear for me for a few years now. Can anyone point to any sort of evidence for this 'tradition'?

In my view the tsuba in the first post is a modern work. The inlays and ryohitsu plugs are far too perfect in terms of surface texture. The iron shows absolutely no convincing signs of age or any tell tale signs of it being anything other then modern mild steel. the hammer marks around the nakago ana are an utterly unconvincing attempt to make it look like it been around a bit, totally at odds with the tidiness of the inlays for example. And the iron patina is super thin with no signs of any rust build up around the inlays. I think the inlay and plugs are all the same material, brass. I'd bet the zinc analysis would come back at around 37%