Spartancrest

I might kill two birds with one stone - I am looking for the type of plant this tsuba depicts - five petals, either a shrub or perhaps a vine? From the National Museum of Norway.

Well Simon, Eldreds auctions sold one for $169 [including fees] in 2012 so your $25 was better than that! You notice the "mushroom" top is a constant feature, the "signatures" [fake] are added later and can vary even in who they pretend to be by. https://www.eldreds.....-with-re_BEB03ED54F

You will get some backlash for this statement - [I totally agree with it though! If a Samurai never wore it, it was never a tsuba - it was an art piece! ] This gives us a split - Do you like to collect "Art pieces in the shape of a tsuba" or "The real thing" [Yes I will get some backlash for that too!] Of course many real tsuba are works of art as well but for me a tsuba that has never been mounted or intended to be mounted has no "spirit" [JMHO] I just saw a very high end auction conclude with some crazy prices paid for the last lot of tsuba while other pieces sold for far less - I think some people just want to "win" regardless of what they are looking at. For those with bottomless pockets, The Inaugural Sale of the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection Achieved more than $22 Million at Bonhams in New York - and they had three such sales! [the prices were for the total contents of the sale not just the tsuba] https://www.bonhams....Japanese-art/?page=6 For me finding a neglected bushi tsuba at a bargain price is far more thrilling than pumping thousands of dollars into something someone else thinks is what I should get, but I don't really see the value in.

Hi Simon your images show the "ura" side - back side. Normally the "omote" side has the most detail. But I would concur that the piece is cast - hey I have seen a lot worse and it is a useful learning tool. Watch out for the ones with that "mushroom" top of the nakago-ana [cast in for adding sekigane] and the cast bubble/fault on the seppa-dai.

Magic! I think the guard displays at least some of the "Lucky" treasures of the gods - Magic price for a little treasure! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takarabune#:~:text=The gods carry with them,巻き物 makimono)%2C the magic mallet The gods carry with them takaramono (宝物), or treasure things, including the hat of invisibility (隠れ笠, kakuregasa), rolls of brocade (織物, orimono), the inexhaustible purse (金袋 kanebukuro), the secret keys to the treasure shed of the gods (鍵 kagi), the scrolls of books of wisdom and life (巻き物 makimono), the magic mallet (小槌 kozuchi), the lucky raincoat (隠れ蓑, kakuremino), the robe of fairy feathers (羽衣, hagoromo), and the bag of fortune (布袋 nunobukuro).

“infinite wisdumb” sent me this image: The result = What also caught my eye was the rear end of the spider - now why would Mother Nature go to the trouble of making a spiders bottom look like some very scary "Golliwog" [no racist intent] Or a negative of Harpo Marx?

two examples of Gamma Sennin and the three legged toad/frog from the Cleveland Museum of art. https://art.thewalte...mmortal-gama-sennin/ https://collections.mfa.org/objects/10064 https://www.nihontoc...t.com/Frog_tsuba.htm

Dimensions from the V&A "The dimensions for this object from our records are given as ‘3.5 in by 3.9 in’, this would be 8.9 x 9.9cm." No thickness was given but I think Gustavo and I thought 6mm was appropriate. Gustavo's ingot that he used for the tsuba "The composition is as follows copper 89.37%, zinc 4.34%, tin 3.86%, lead 1.75%, iron 0.68%. The lead content changes from one end to the other, the small piece is the highest at around 2.5%. The zinc and tin content should give clues as to the origin of the metal because not every group of people made bronze in the same way. " Gustavo might correct this as he did some extra work on the metal.

If we are to believe all the advertising - this guard dates from Late Kamakura Period (1278-1288 A.D.) https://www.samuraim...nteisho-certificate/ this one from 1572 https://www.samuraim...k-hozon-certificate/ or something really fresh made last week https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145100278538 I guess without some form of metal dating - age is often a guess.

https://www.invaluab...582192e47cefc6a573fb

For those people interested in the original piece from the V&A as well as another version that was found in the process of the search. [may be the daisho pair?] PS. Any help I contributed was minimal - the praise for the WORK should all go to Gustavo, who went to extraordinary measures to get the metal from the correct period and has the technical skill to see the project finished. [I only found some images which is all I am really good at.] Now there are THREE BIG SPIDERS!

Alexander, I just noticed the tagane-ato [punch marks around the nakago-ana]. The ones on your example are very, very similar to the old examples I have with the Mantis design. I can't help thinking the same smith used the same tools on all five pieces. I include the three images of the nakago-ana with the punch marks - a series of three dot punches each side, top and bottom. [Ignore the rough outlines of the nakago-ana, that was done manually to give all three images the same background colour] Image is larger and enhanced from the book page example above. Hey Barry is there a Dragonfly on the ura of yours? Nice piece! [that is an understatement!]

Utsushi - is the word you might need. An "emulation" of a design - not a direct copy but a homage to a design that is well liked. There are thousands of utsushi getting about, but they often get mistaken for the same piece seen in the past - [Who can remember every detail?] I put some Mantis utsushi in my beginners book to compare to cast copies [yes it needs a rewrite] Safe to give the ebay images of your second tsuba as it has already sold https://www.ebay.com/itm/276633048733

Text Pdf available https://archive.org/...anischeText/mode/2up Plates Pdf https://archive.org/...ils/JapanischePlates Reprints from $22 USD https://www.abebooks...neten-9780331743/plp Originals can sell for $171 USD https://www.abebooks...21118&ref_=pd_hw_i_1 The Jacoby along with the Georg Oeder collection were taken by the Russians in 1945 - never to be seen again - unless they are hidden in the "Hermitage" in Saint Petersburg ? [Anyone with a link to get into the Hermitage collections?] I can send a proof copy of the Oeder collection with English translation to anyone who can give me a personal message with a home email address [the file size is too large to send direct through NMB] The Jacoby book was mentioned in the "Connoisseur" in 1904 and included an image of one of the book plates Taf,9. [plate 9]

I found this image from an old ebay sale "Copper 1800-1849 Asian Antiques" no other information on it sorry - I just thought the style and material were similar. [I think yours is far superior though] This one has a very close ura side design but the Katakiri-bori carving is a totally different technique to the omote view of Bruno's. https://www.proantic...eriod-1808-1912.html

https://archive.org/...SwordGuards/mode/2up

Wall hanging? https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/196649348714 Wooden background plastic tsuba?

Yes it is not that far away from this design - just inverted with the sharp ends trimmed - - There must be many variants getting about. [but I don't see any religious symbology in this one]

Markus, you are correct about the guards not being on display - I should have said "they remain at the museum to this day." [Early in the morning for you - getting late for bed, here for me! ]

Sorry you are getting Ategane [or ume if you prefer] mixed up with Sekigane - because the Ategane are definitely GONE - the plugs in the hitsu-ana are removed - who removed them? https://www.hanbonfo...ifferent-tsuba-parts 鍔 (鐔) Tsuba glossary 当金 Ategane A metal plug placed in the Kozuka or Kogai-ana. Also refered to as Ume ( 埋 ) 責金 Sekigane A filler of Copper or Lead to to make the fit between the Tsuba and the Nakago snug.

Well Google translate can share the blame I do like the "Protection plate" - that is actually what a tsuba is after all.

From the National Museum of Norway. This museum could easily be posted to the Tsuba casting molds ? Almost 90% of this museums collection of tsuba are described as CAST - not true, but that is what the museum describes them as! https://www.nasjonal...ngen/objekt/OK-10048 The Echizen school tsuba came from CHINA [don't think so] Cast [in this case, yes it is likely cast to start with] and oxidized shakudo (alloy of copper and gold) with chiselled, engraved and pierced relief decoration https://www.nasjonal...ngen/objekt/OK-09443 Another CHINESE [no way] and described as "The Echizen School, Cast and oxidized iron with chiselled, engraved and openwork relief decoration, details in inlaid gold" Several examples are described as being Chinese out of their collection of some 64 guards. https://www.nasjonal...ngen/objekt/OK-07298 a Hamano school also described as CAST IRON "Cast and oxidized iron with chiselled relief decoration inlaid with gold, copper, shakudo (alloy of copper and gold) and shibuichi (alloy of copper and silver)" Lost in translation? Bad descriptions to start with! I guess I am just pointing out that for beginners - museums won't always give you the best information!

If this thread is dealing with "religious imagery on tsuba" we may need to broaden the number of religions - Hidden or not very well hidden "Jewish" Samurai Yes I know it is a family mon but hey that doesn't stop it being a religious symbol - the same as a multiple of so called "Christian" tsuba patterns. https://www.jauce.com/auction/r1151724941 https://varshavskyco...collection/tsu-0235/ I guess the question remains "just what defines a religious symbol"?

Like a dog with a bone - I found the Hotei image, in colour! [it was in my own records- needle in a hundred haystacks] and I know of another publication from the V&A that has a small B&W image "A PICTURE BOOK OF Japanese SWORD GUARDS" 1927 - a booklet of some twenty pages. Trying to save image space here but if you need an image with more resolution send me a PM. Boy on the back with Hotei's hat.

I am no expert on signatures or F/K This one is signed on the left https://ginza.choshu...j/r5/008/00_riju.htm https://www.zacke.at...th-kanzan/?lot=21438 This one on the right, image is pretty dirty. An ebay one signed on the left https://www.ebay.com/itm/276165246574 The Walters has a fuchi signed on the left. https://art.thewalte...or/nara-toshinaga-i/ and other examples of his work. I can't find any Monkey or Eagle - Sorry.