Tim Evans

Hi Patrick, Instead of focusing on Zen, look into Japanese Buddhism in general, as there were Bushi that practiced other forms of Buddhism such as Mikkyo and Nichiren. The place to start is to consider the time periods when Buddhism was culturally dominant. In regard to the tsuba that you can find, this would be the Muromachi, Momoyama and Early Edo periods. Later on in the Mid to Late Edo periods the dominant influence was the Neo Confucianism instituted by the Tokugawa, so you will not find as many Buddhist influenced tsuba from those periods. There are a lot of tsuba with Buddhist subject matter such as the Wheel of Law, Temple Bells, Cha no Yu utensils, etc. that are about Buddhism, but then there are also tsuba that are Buddhist, in that they demonstrate Emptiness (Ku) – by expressing Process, Relationship and Transformation; and so they are intentionally ambiguous, contradictory and incomplete. This attempt to express a Buddhist view of reality by adopting the visual conventions developed by Cha no Yu Tea Masters is where the Kanayama and other “Tea” type tsuba of the Momyama and Early Edo periods come from. Some further reading on Cha no Yu and Ku http://www.anthropoetics.ucla.edu/ap0501/tea.htm http://www.stephenbatchelor.org/index.p ... tmodernity Tim Evans

Hi Ludolf, Thank you so much for the reference! Kindest regards, Tim Evans

I am hoping someone who has a Naughton Collection Catalog can look up an entry for me. I have an unsigned tsuba, and I remember seeing a very similar if not identical signed example in the Naughton book in the Sunagawa section. I also recall that the catalog number for the picture and the text entry had some of the digits mixed up, but was not hard to figure out which text went with the picture. If the tsuba can be located in the book, then I would like to get the text entry and page number to properly document and attribute the tsuba I do have. Kindest regards, Tim Evans

The characters in the tsuba in question are "shu". See Nelson's Character dictionary #285. It means master, main principal, important, head of house, lord, etc. Can refer to a person or an idea. Sasano mentions it also means cinnibar. See M. Sasano's silver book, page 139. The character in the tsuba at the top of page 2 is not "ho" but "fuku", Nelsons #3741. It means serve in the military or discharge duties.

It really comes down to individual taste. Personally, I prefer them cleaner, however, there are others who like them grungy as it makes it more "antique" looking (see tks3 from my previous post about "curio lovers"). To answer your question, I can't tell from the image if there is a problem developing. As this is probably among the top 10 most important known tsuba, doing anything to it is probably fraught with political implications. You might recall the controversy over the cleaning of the Sistene Chapel ceiling. Many objected, and much scholarship was undone as it was discovered that Michaelangelo's work was not as dark, mysterious, tortured and moody as some wanted to believe. This interpretation was entirely due to the dirt, wax, smoke and over-painting covering it up. That said, it is possible to over clean a tsuba. It should have a sense of age and elegance. It takes practice and judgement to conserve a tsuba - I see it as being the equivalent of polishing a sword. However there is no formal apprentice system to teach people how.

There are problems with museum collections. Tsuba are considered "minor decorative arts" so they are a very low priority for any kind of care or attention. Some of the issues as follows for collections I have seen in the US: * Frequently uncataloged so pieces can go missing * No funding for training someone on proper conservation * Sometimes cleaned by well meaning but misguided individuals. There are some horror stories about what happened to the Gunsaulus collection for example Important tsuba are really better off in the hands of knowlegeable collectors

Some food for thought from Akiyama Kyusaku with commentary by Bob Haynes. These excerpts are from the Token Kai Shi, published in the early 1900's. Originally translated by Henri Joly into French and then translated into English by R.E Haynes and published in To-Ran.

Austin, I am always interested in the histories behind these things. Would you be willing to share some details on how you found it? Auction? Dealer? Another collector?