Spartancrest

There is a another guard on ebay right now. https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/373967970257

WOW!

Hi Jeremy there is a good thread found here: There are many thoughts on the subject, it will often depend on whether your guard is just iron or if it has inlays/overlays etc.

I have found this extract from "Sculpture on Sword-Furniture" by Captain F. Brinkley [1902] Here he is describing the work of the Goto masters. "--In short, these records show that the first six Goto masters had a very large repertoire of subjects, and that it is altogether a mistake to speak of their productions as severely classical, or of their range of decorative motives as limited. They differed, of course, in the quality of their work, the third representative, Joshiu, being notably the coarsest and roughest chiseller among them. It is a theory implicitly believed in Japan that an artist's moral nature is reflected in his productions. Joshiu was a big, stalwart soldier. He fell in battle, the end he had always desired, and there is certainly something of the bluff man-at-arms in his style of carving. His most elaborate effort is said to have been a pair of menuki in the form of a procession of golden ants carrying silver eggs. But he preferred fierce dragons and angry shishi. His son Kwojo, the fourth representative, who worked from 1550 to 1620, is distinguished for precisely the quality which his father lacked, extreme accuracy of detail and delicacy of style. Up to Kwojo's time, that is to say, during the era of the first three Goto masters, the iroye (literally, colour-picture) process, or "picking out" with metal different from that of the general design, was somewhat clumsy. The preparation of efficient solder not being understood, the expert had to pin each tiny plate of gold, silver, or copper in its place. He accomplished this with such dexterity that the rivets were not visible, but really delicate work could not be done. In Kwojo's time a solder was discovered so good that a piece of metal fixed with it could be afterwards chiselled in loco. The use of this 'ro' (literally, wax), as the Japanese called it, made an immense difference in the quality of detail chiselling, and the uttori iroye (riveted plating) of the first Goto experts was finally abandoned. It is unnecessary to enter into any further analysis of the Goto masters' work. ---" This would indicate 'ro' or solder [as we know it] appeared between 1550 to 1620 which is pretty early. The information does not detail the use of solder on Sanmai construction but does point us to a date where it could have been used from.

I found this extract from an article dating to 1889 The Portfolio; by Philip Gilbert Hamerton. published 1889 SOME Japanese SWORD-GUARDS. "More rarely we meet with the leaves of the banana or plantain ; amongst many thousands of guards which we have examined four only were decorated with the majestic foliage of this tropical plant. The best of these, the work of Naokatsu, is represented in fig. 2 ; the reverse of this piece, though equally fine and free in treatment, is quite different in the arrangement of the material." A. H. Church. I cannot explain why the article was ascribed as by Philip Hamerton then signed by A.H. Church? It was Church's tsuba used in the print [same guard as above now in the Ashmolean museum] As the article states only four examples were known, I cannot believe these are the four already seen in museum collections - surely others exist in private hands?

Roger you didn't dream it - but like you, I can't find the reference either - - yet. I will keep looking.

Chris - you should have waited a bit till after the auction - now everyone will be after it! I have a saying "keep it quiet keep it cheap!" It is a remarkable piece and I am sure others have noticed it - I have put it in my 'Watch someone else buy it list'

Curran, actually it was Geraint who pointed out that it was Sanmai [Bob is asking the question] Do we know how the separate plates stay put within the fukurin without pins or rivets, was a solder ever used? I realize that once mounted it would be fixed in place by the nakago, so was it really an issue unless it was unmounted?

Bob, Is it possible to see some better images, side view of the nakago-ana/hitsu I can't make out any layering if it is Sanmai? If Sanmai the condition is pretty good, usually the top and bottom layers are very thin and show crushing or wear through, the design on yours is identical both sides, so that would suggest the hitsu was cut out after construction else the hitsu would cut through the dragon designs both sides. Pretty close to the dragon design in the link supplied by Geraint [but not identical].

JL. Please be aware there is a growing trend of 'proxy' sellers on ebay - they either sell on behalf of another or sell at a raised price then obtain the object for a lower price, pocketing the profit. There are three sellers of the one guard at the moment - you will notice the identical image is used.

JL. The sacred cranes are a symbol of good luck and longevity because it is said they live 1,000 years., The Sun rise [could equally be Sun set?] might tie in to a popular scene of 'Husband and Wife rocks" at Futami bay. Though there are no rocks shown on that guard and may just be a seaside view. In my opinion you won't get very much for the guard, there are hundreds if not thousands and they only sell by giving false information to unsuspecting buyers. I would keep it as a reminder of your visit [It is after all a souvenir]- and please believe me, there are very few on this forum who have not owned something similar, though they may now deny it! It is all a part of learning. similar tsuba sell very cheaply - https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1040306457 for $40 AU.

Says it all really! https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1041437745

JL, you can at least be thankful your copy is in pretty good condition, there is another on ebay that is in very much poorer condition. https://www.ebay.com/itm/154886722416

Sorry, yes it is a "modern" casting - seams show under the highlighted red lines.

If you are going to sell a fake or a copy - make sure you don't try selling it in the same week as an original [well it may be?] https://www.jauce.com/auction/g1040967621 https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1041114148 https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1040720200 Three copies, and ugly cranes at that! Two are reputed to be by Kano Natsuo [if true he was having a really really bad day!]

I just found a fantastic Shishi tsuba going to auction - https://www.jauce.com/auction/1040944781 The same design is found in the Chōsen Gafu book [p.56] - I can't work out if the Ura view is a Shishi emerging from waves or clouds? I do think the placement of the design on the guard is better than on the drawing. It simply meant changing the hitsu.

These three turned up on Worthpoint and another from a recent auction. I have noticed the 'seal' or Kao can vary amongst examples, this may have indicated specific makers who all signed the same way? As a side question we all know what a Daisho is, but what is the name for three guards in the same 'set' Tanto, Wak and Katana size? You could also include a Nō-dachi [or if you prefer Ōdachi] making it four of a kind?

Yes sorry Marc, the two images are from a little book I have just released on the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. It is not a technical book by any means. More of a visual catalog / catalogue

https://collection.maas.museum/object/199136 From Wikipedia "In 1883, Tenison-Woods was invited by his friend and governor of Singapore, Sir Frederick Weld, to undertake a scientific tour in the Straits Settlements. Tenison-Woods also travelled extensively in Java, the adjacent islands and the Philippines, and provided the British government with a valuable confidential report on the coal resources of the East. He also travelled to China and Japan, returning to Sydney in 1886." He donated an eclectic collection of small Japanese and other Asian artifacts most with the same time provenance, but only the one tsuba. https://collection.maas.museum/search?q=Reverend Julian Tenison-Woods So it would appear Rev. Woods acquired the guard in Japan itself probably as a souvenir perhaps? He died at the relatively young age of 56. So we are stuck again by not knowing just how old the tsuba was when he picked it up - but we know it was made prior to 1886.

Just listed for auction is another Jakushi dragon: https://www.jauce.com/auction/j1039826651

I am surprised no one else has replied to this thread - I came across a 'recipe' if you like, of how, supposedly, Kinai was able to patinate their iron guards. Though the exact manner of how it was managed is elusive. CATALOGUE OF SPECIMENS OF Japanese LACQUER & METAL WORK. EXHIBITED IN 1894 Part II. THE FURNITURE OF THE SWORD. [Note : This extract is pertaining specifically to Iron tsuba] A few words concerning the iron so often employed for tsuba (and indeed for other accessories of the sword, and for many ornamental and useful objects) may here be introduced. As no analyses of this metal were available at the time, the writer asked an expert metallurgical chemist, Mr. Arnold Philip, then (1889) of the Royal Engineering College, Cooper's Hill, to examine chemically three typical guards. Mr. Thomas Turner, of the Mason College, Birmingham, was so good as to determine their degree of hardness. The percentage results, with estimations of specific gravity, are given in this table: To these processes must be added the various methods in use by Japanese craftsmen to produce surface colorations and effects upon metals. These have been already described. One such process has however not been recorded hitherto, namely that by which a lustrous black coating of the magnetic oxide of iron was formed. This was produced by heating the iron object with a limited supply of air in the presence of water-vapour and of the products of the imperfect combustion of vegetable matter. The dark and glossy patina thus produced has generally resisted the destructive influence of moisture, so that after the lapse of a century or more the surface remains intact, as in many of the guards made by Kinai of Echizen. A. H. CHURCH.

I was tossing up [no pun intended] posting this on "What is represented on this tsuba??" or "Well that's different..." or even "Monkeying Around" - the thought of putting it in "Looking for crab sukashi tsuba pictures" never entered my head. But I will stick with 'artwork' https://www.jauce.com/auction/c1039646759 It is not a genre that my wife would let me hang on the wall! I don't know what all the Kanji means on the first one [both sides] , maybe an instruction manual? Maybe "Shudder at Shunga" would have worked better? [I will not be offended if this post gets pulled (once again no pun intended)]

Just to pipe in on the likelihood of that last tsuba being cast - there is no doubt about it. That particular design is perhaps the most common cast namban ever produced. [Not the most common cast tsuba - that honor goes to another dragon - produced over the last 70 years - https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/363337087054 ] There are some shockers out there with voids, over-runs and seams - a style to be viewed with very much caution. https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/758579575/antique-nanban-tsuba This one is of superior make, the seppa-dai is different but still little let downs. One here very poor, with voids. As you can see - common - they all tend to have the same 'Yamagata' - hitsu-ana shape. This one is the real clincher - how it avoided the re-melt bin I will never know! It is currently listed at a discount at only $80 - expensive scrap metal price if you ask me!