Jesta

I just picked this one up in London. There’s a kitsune under a moon, with a kitsune in openwork. I am not sure what the design on the ura side is. If anyone can help with the mei, and origins that would be great. Thanks.

One of my concerns about pieces like this is that it doesn’t have papers. If it is genuine, then I would be surprised that the owner has not had it papered yet. On the other hand, it is a really beautiful piece, which also caught my eye…

Yeah, I see these around quite a lot. What I also find interesting is how few of them appear to have been mounted at any time. I wonder how many were made for the export market (those that aren’t modern anyway)

I am afraid that I didn’t take any wide angle shots. The tsuba display was a single case, with some other koshirae and a note about how decorative things became as swords were seen more and more as status symbols. I was referring to the cicada… I could have sworn it was a bee on a honeycomb, but you are right, and I can see it now that I look again.

I think that it’s highly likely that Klimt was influenced by Japanese art.

The final two: ...

I went to the Samurai Exhibition at the British Museum yesterday. It was pretty well laid out, with the focus really seeming to be on armour, with some discussion of the weapons used, and the role of the samurai in the Edo period. There was one display with tsuba, so I thought I would share them (two more in the following post). As usual, there was almost no description of the tsuba provided, so if anyone could include comments, origins, etc, then it would be great. The tsuba are really quite nice, with a good variety of themes, some seen before, and others that are less common. I really like the bee tsuba, it reminds me of Klimt.

Inspired by this, I gave it some thought, and decided to try a simple acrylic ring display. I have been really struggling to find a good way to display fuchi kashira, and I don’t have the skills to craft a wooden stand, so I bought these on Amazon. It seems to have worked out quite well, I think. Anyone else have any cunning plans for this sort of thing?

That is excellent. I have been looking for a good way to display fuchi-kashira sets. Thanks for sharing.

This was my first thought too…

Yeah, I was just thinking that. I will look out for them next time…

I love this sentiment. I collect because I love the aesthetics of the tsuba, and I pick pieces that I want to look at every day. I never get tired of them, and I aspire to have so many that I too will be able to rediscover them when I go digging into my cabinets.

Much like Mauro noted, I don’t see any of the typical motifs that link this to the Race across the Uji. It is very nice, but the Chinese armour and sword, combined with the lack of a bow, or bridge, or companion to race make me think that it is more likely to be depicting something else.

I love the playful theme

I have one that is very similar, but there is no tekkotsu on mine.