Tanto54

Dear Bob, 159 looks like very good work. I think the two sukashi are two Matsukawa-bishi Mon (family mon in the shape of pine bark with three diamonds which stand for reliability, integrity and success). The inlay looks fantastic. I've always wondered about the potential for galvanic corrosion when joining metals like brass/copper and iron (even without strong electrical or magnetic fields), so I've asked many "experts" and craftspeople but never received a satisfactory answer... Your tsuba does not appear to have any such corrosion, so I guess that it's not a problem or they had some way of addressing it.

Hi Mark, the kanji look like Shogyoku, but I can't find any tsuba makers with a matching mei (in Saotome or anywhere else). The "Sho" may be incorrect (hard to see). Also wondered if the pine bark mon shapes were original or not and even if they are places where inlay has fallen out. Can you tell in hand?

Hey Bob, just trying to catch-up on some of your excellent postings that I missed. I really liked No. 130. The various sennin (Immortals) have such interesting powers like the ability to conjure dragons and horses from their gourds and bowls. The detail on your tsuba looks great with many artistic attention to details (like the stylistic rain-dragon and realistic horse). The golden amber that you wrote about was one of those aspects that the maker spent a lot of time doing but only very few people would ever spot it - amazing! No. 130 is Hamano School and is signed "Shoryuken Teruyuki". Teruyuki was a student of Hamano Shigeyuki but he was not one of the four masters of the Hamano School (so he never used the Miboku name like Shozui). I’ve attached Teruyuki’s mei from Wakayama and I'm sure that it is a match. Teruyuki worked in Edo in the mid to late 1800’s. I also really liked your three orphan fuchi No. 133. The Lungren Collection had so many great items, and I really enjoy going through that Auction Catalogue from time to time. Orphans don't bother me if they are great art (and I think that yours are). The moon's reflection in the stream on No. 133c (reproduced below) is really top notch. That is a theme that Natsuo borrowed many times to great effect (and I remember Ford using it too...) I also enjoyed the attention to detail in the Oni's shorts on No. 133b. As you may know, because tigers were not endemic to Japan, the Japanese mistakenly believed for centuries that male tigers had stripes and female tigers had spots. Even today, we often see togosu misidentified as a tiger and leopard when really its just a male and female tiger. In the classic image of an Oni (demon), the Oni wears tiger fur shorts. On your fuchi, one Oni has stripes on his shorts and the other Oni has spots - awesome attention to detail that gave me a good laugh. The Japanese will fix broken or damaged treasures and instead of trying to hide the repair, they will often highlight it with gold lacquer. The bowl (for example) was a fabulous work of art before it was dropped, and it's a shame that it was damaged, but if properly repaired, it is still a great work of art (albeit at a lower price...). Shouldn't we feel the same way about orphan menuki and fuchigashira? Anyone have a Masamune with the tip chipped off through the boshi? I'll be happy to take it off your hands...

Hi Bob, sorry I'm late in my posting about Item 131 @Geraintgets the atari! The subject is a cart wheel from a "Genji Guruma" (a generic term for an Imperial Ox Cart) on a Kanayama School tsuba. As Geraint said, it comes from the Tale of Genji (considered by many scholars to be the World's first novel) about the romantic exploits of Prince Genji. There are several chapters in the book that refer to Genji Guruma ("guruma" is the euphonic of Kuruma or "car" in Japanese) but the best known is the Aoi chapter. In the case of tsuba like this though, it is just a generic imperial cart wheel and probably doesn't refer to a specific chapter in the book. We often see these cart wheels on tosogu in water (soaking up moisture to keep them from splitting in use). The meaning was something like you have to prepare yourself under difficult conditions to be ready to be useful later.

The additional information that the fuchi has a minogame clinches the identification of the bird on the kashira as a Crane (instead of a Night Heron). Research the symbols of longevity and you will be convinced too (there are 4 main symbols: pine, bamboo, crane & minogame).

Crane, pine and bamboo are famous combination meaning longevity.

While Diakoku is occasionally depicted on sake bottles, in all of these three cases above (the two tsuba and the bottle shown by Thomas), the god depicted is Hotei. You can tell by the large, bare belly (a sign of Hotei not Diakoku). In addition, Hotei is the patron god of bar tenders, so that is why he is most often the one depicted on sake bottles.

Hi Ed, the signature (left side) is "Jokatsusai Hoichi + kao" who was more commonly known as Chinju (Haynes 00306.0). He lived in Inshu ju Inaba Province and was alive in the mid 1800's. The Hoichi name can also be read as Yasukazu. The kanji on the right side indicate that the image is derived from a certain artist's painting.

Hi Bob, the Sake Drinkers are Shojo, and Item 128 looks to be signed by Jowa, who is more commonly known as Masanaga (Haynes 04251) and who was the nephew of the famous Sugiura Joi. So glad to see you and your marvelous collection are back!!!

Nice!

I believe that the 46th Juyo Session was in 2000.

Dear Omar - thanks so much! Your nice experience is motivating me to try too. Thanks for the detail.

Dear Omar, looks very nice. I'd love to hear more about the whole process (whatever you are willing to share). For example: what part was the most enjoyable (and which part was the most stressful), who did the work, how long each step took, price ranges, etc. (and of course, more photos when you have them).

Dear Andrey, Congratulations! Your tsuba look great! I also loved your website - lots more info about the tsuba that you displayed in the exhibition. http://tsubaka.ru/index1_en.htm

Hi Gwyn, the deep perpendicular scratches makes it look like someone was cutting with the sword, damaged it and then tried to remove the scratches with a finger stone or something else that burnished/disfigured some areas of the hamon?

+1 Another beautiful piece!

Writing is not very clear, but it looks like it says that the sword will only catch at this point (in other words, the catch will not keep the sword fully closed).

Dear Bob, Item 125 shows Karako Asobi (Chinese Children at Play) which came from the ancient tradition of Chinese art of depicting children playing at four pursuits (painting, chess, harp & calligraphy). This is called kinki shoga in Japanese and was adopted into Japan around the 1400's and became popular in many different types of Japanese art - netsuke, woodblock prints, painting and tosogu. Here's your Kashira with a popular woodblock print (from the 1700's) - you can see that the composition is identical (hat, hair pulling, grabbing the wrist, etc.). As you said, the fuchi has the aftermath with two of the children chasing the other whose chonmage (topknot) has been pulled loose.

Best of Luck! Will come by when I'm in the area.

Hi Dale, it was adopted from China a very long time ago - probably over one thousand years ago...

Hi Dale, it's an umbrella from the story of Osho Sennin, who tied a letter (scroll) to the umbrella, tossed it into the air and used it like a mail-carrier to send the letter miles away.

Dear Chen Chen-san, very nice kozuka! Good mix of inlay and katakiribori.

Dear Bjorn, very nice tsuba - I really like it. I believe that most good koshirae were tied together in a meaningful theme that was important to the owner. If the sword is the “soul” of the Samurai and the single most important item to him, why would he just put together a bunch of random tosogu on his sword? I think that your tsuba is a stylized chrysanthemum which symbolizes Autumn, Purity, Longevity and Nobility, and is featured in many different legends and motifs like “the Chrysanthemum Boy,” "the Four Gentlemen," “Master of the Five Willows”, etc. So in addition to choosing other tosogu to go with your tsuba’s color and “solemn” style, you might want to choose a matching theme that is important to you too. For example, if you like the Four Gentlemen, then you would want to find tosogu that match your tsuba in color and style that have the other three flowers/plants of this grouping. Remember that the Japanese view of flowers was very different from most Western perspectives. The Four Gentlemen (Shikunshi) was a well known theme to Samurai that was adopted from Chinese philosophy and consisted of orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum and plum. The traits represented by these plants exemplified Bushido (the Warrior’s Way).

I agree with Geraint - this type of wear is actually highly prized by many Goto collectors (and in some cases may have originally been made to look worn...). I wouldn't advise any restoration.

Dear Bob, your tsuba Item No. 111 depicts the Dragon King’s (Ryujin - king of the sea) messenger presenting the two Tide Jewels (one can make the tide ebb and the other makes the tide flow) to Takenouchi no Sukune. He was an advisor to Empress Jingo and helped her in defeating Korea using these Tide Jewels.