Iaido dude

My understanding is that the Shoami school encompasses many influences (e.g. not a uniform style) and that gold leaf and inlays/overlays were incorporated after early Edo. On the other hand, the quality of iron you describe is entirely consistent with Ko-Shoami, which I wouldn't think you'd expect to find gold leaf. I wonder if it is a latter addition (unfortunate, if you ask me). I'm still quite new to early sukashi tsuba. Would you kindly point out what folding of iron looks like? I have found descriptions of this in reference materials that show photos of very well known early guards made in Owari province (Momoyama/early Edo).

I couldn’t agree more. The mounted tsuba looks nice. This katana is on the heavier side, so added weight doesn’t affect the feel or functionality. I’m very pleased with the final outcome. There was a modem factory made Owari style blackened iron tsuba that quickly lost it’s surface coating. I was shying away from all other options except for a strong, masculine, and severe sukashi style tsuba. This mid-Edo guard borrows from Momoyama period Owari motifs.

The fitting was successful. The "mid-Edo Ohno style" tsuba looks and feels great.

The 83 mm diameter remains problematic. Maybe mid-Edo and suitable to be fitted on my katana.

I'll be damned. I am looking at my tsuba from the Momoyama/early Edo period and it is actually very possible that the "Sadamasa" is actually an Owari group tsuba of that period. It makes sense because the triple paulownia is identical to plate 26 (gold book) from the late Muromachi period, we know that the domoe motif is of that period (as in an Owari tsuba I have from the Momoyama period), and as you have commented, Sadamasa tsuba have fine grained iron and don't have tekkotsu. Also, the complete departure from the designs of Sadamasa is now explained--because it actually has more kinship to Owari tsuba. I have it next to my Kanayama and Owari tsuba from the Momoyama period and they have a lot of similarities. It also has more positive than negative silhouette and is therefore the weight one would expect from an abundance of iron. You know, when I saw the flat globular tekkotsu on the face of the tsuba and noted the patina and tsuchime, I thought it just seemed older than the Sadamasa of the middle-late Edo. I just wasn't confident enough to trust my impression. I won't be fitting this tsuba to my katana for now, probably not ever. I need more study. Thanks again for steering me in the right direction.

Tim, Steve Waszak speaks vey highly of you. I just familiarized myself with Ohno tsuba and from a design sense at least (very difficult to judge hada from photos) it actually does have a kinship to this school. Thanks for your comments, questions, and thoughts.

Hi Jimi-san. How are things in Denmark? Very nice. I do like vegetables, plants, and nuts on Owari tsuba for some reason. Especially aoi. Turnip is a new one. Are the inome considered to represent boar's eyes? Is there rust on the rim at places?

I purchased it to mount on a practice katana. I'll probably have it fitted tomorrow after I enjoy it a bit more--just as a tusba. I may be overstating the presence of globular tekkotsu on the face of the tsuba. There are no tekkotsu on the mimi. There is no folding of the rim, which is cut definitively square.

The design is unusual as compared to the few classic signed pieces by Tushu Ju Sadamasa I have found on-line. I haven't found an example with this combination of motifs (kiri, tomoe, and karigane) among his attributed works. The karigane with notched tail feathers are also different and more elaborate, I think, from the very simple depiction of geese seen in the work of artisans from the Owari region during the Momoyama and early Edo periods when the wabi-sabi-yugen aesthetic was so prevalent and profoundly expressed. https://www.britishm...ction/object/A_TS-61 https://www.pinteres...n/12455336453957089/ https://www.aoijapan...masa-thunder-clouds/ https://www.samuraim...n-certificate-t-261/ https://www.samuraim...n-certificate-t-261/

Interestingly, this late Muromachi Kyo-sukashi from Sasano's gold book shows the identical triple paulownia motif on the top and bottom. This distinctive treatment may have informed the composition of my Tanshu Sadamasa where the motif appears only at the top. Fast forward to the Genroku period and we see the co-opting of the triple paulownia as the crest for the Hosokawa family depicted in this Hayashi sukashi (Sasano's gold book). And this Nishigaki sukashi tsuba in the genroku period uses the tomoe and paulownia motifs (Sasano's gold book). Here, the meaning of these motifs is unclear to me.

This is a recent acquisition that arrived this week--a sukashi-bori tsuba of kiri, tomoe, and karigane papered to Tanshu Sadamasa (mumei), whom I had no prior knowledge of. The strong design, size, and price met the criteria I had set for the purchase of a vintage sukashi to grace my new custom-made katana formed from tamahagane and constructed in the traditional kubose style. I have found great inspiration in the practice of iaido using my swords fitted with very good iron plate openwork tsuba. Preferably vintage, but the iaito that was gifted to my by my teacher when I left Boston has an excellent Owari copy, faithfully hand made in Japan. I wasn't quite prepared to confront such a large and substantial sword guard of well-forged iron when finally in my hands, even though it was as advertised (83 mm nearly perfect circle, 5.6-5.8 mm at the kaku-mimi). The color is a beautiful dark chocolate brown, the patina is even and moist with tsuchime that lights it up especially in natural light, and there are globular tekkotsu evident in several spots on the surface more than the rim. It was cut by a very skilled later-generation tsubako from this school--the lines are deliberate, precise, and sharp. Simply splendid. I am not experienced enough to reflect on the quality and appearance of the iron in order to date it more precisely, but I'd venture to guess it is mid-late Edo (no earlier). I'm finishing my first attempt at tsuba study with research on the first 2 hereditary masters who signed Tansu Ju Sadamasa, but I'll post it later on this thread. I'd be grateful for your thoughts and comments and sharing of any other examples from this school.

Grey’s commentary also indicates that a noted collector was convinced it was crafted by Yondai.

In Donald Richie’s wonderful little book (gigantic in my reading) “A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics,” he writes about the tripartite formula of formal-semi formal-informal that is called shin-guo-so used to describe “mood” or a specific setting in which we are engaged in, for example, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, calligraphy. Steve introduced me to this and other books on Japanese aesthetics developed in the activity of tea ceremony. Tim’s comment about Buddhist ideas of impermanence is tied to the aesthetic principles of sabi and mono no aware—a kind of bitter sweet quality that we may appreciate and experience as a beautiful.

Here is a previously sold signed Yamakichibei plate from Grey Doffin’s website. The only feature that would make this more beautiful would be absence of hitsu-ana (this is a later generation smith most likely).

There seems to be a noticeable gradient from abstraction to more realistic representations of motifs over time. For example the single monkey doll motif is very abstracted and stark in the Ko-Katchushi piece in Sasano’s gold book (plate 10, early Muromachi). Today, we might appreciate it as modern abstract painting in a gallery. In his commentary the meaning is culturally referenced to that historical time so that it is understood symbolically and intentionally by and for the elite warrior class. Then by the Middle Edo period the smiths in Owari are fashioning increasingly realistic and busy compositions (2 circles now fused, and we have presence of more) for a peacetime and sentimental merchant class.

Thanks, gentlemen. I have been traveling, so forgive this delayed reply. We have drawer handles, monkey dolls, and bottle gourds (see below). I suppose that I should not be surprised that these motifs are subject to our attempts at symbolic interpretation since it is precisely characteristic of Kanayama tsuba, especially in the Momoyama and early Edo periods, to be geometric and symmetrical in a manner that defies all attempts to ascribe meaning to them. I have this impulse to find a meaning, but I am also reminded of the Japanese aesthetic principles of this same period such as sabi, wabi, and yuugen and how they are brought to bear to achieve a combined sense of stark power as it manifests in a guard mounted on the sword of a samurai warrior going into battle.

This is your sukashi mounted on your katana, I presume. If you practice iaido or tameshigiri, do you find it at all unusual or impractical to have your thumb on the top where the tsuba is notched rather than on one of the lobes (if it had been designed rotated slightly)? See a modern day tsuba based on a classic quatrefoil design on one of my iaito. The thumb rests on a flat surface actually.

I think the motif on either side of the seppa-dai is bottle gourds in negative silhouette. What is the motif on top and bottom. The negative silhouette is not a circle. It is pointed on the side facing the seppa-dai. Maybe a mon or some kind of flower petal?

I am looking for Kanayama and Owari tsuba from the late Muromachi to early Edo period (approximately 1575-1610). I have seen some nice early sukashi guards in this category posted on NMB in the past. I am also interested in original Oribe tea cups/bowls from the Momoyama period. Thanks.

Price reduction $500. Posting in eBay next.

Price reduction $250 each. Posting in eBay next.

Price reduction $500. Posting in eBay next.

Hi Chris, I’m working on raising some funds to acquire desirable and exemplary Kanayama and Owari during the period 1575–1610 (possibly -1620). I’ll be in touch. Tschuss, Steve

Price reduction $600

Price reduction $300 each.