Kinko San Mai Tsuba

[Pete Klein]

I found this recently and it's a very interesting (at least to me) example of early san mai (three layer) Kinko work. It is 'VERY' heavy and the workmanship is excellent. This piece must have been mounted on a Satsuma koshirae as it has the two smallish udenuki holes for the traditional cord binding. Please note the lack of hitsu ana. I wish I could see the actual koshirae. Oh well...

 

[Jean]

Outstanding, Pete

[kaigunair]

Nice!

What is considered early for kinko such as this (Early edo, momoyama)? Does san mai also refer to a particular style? With the nanako work, reminds of mino kinko work...

 

All the books I'm going through start with iron schools and don't talk much about early kinko schools. Been looking at lots of threads on how to tell if iron is old, but any pointers to identify early kinko works?

 

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[runagmc]

San mai means three layer construction just like with swords... three layers of metal sandwiched together...

[Marius]

Pete,

 

a lovely tsuba. Are the layers thick? I can't see it n the pictures, sorry.

 

Here is another example, three ko-kinko already discussed here, one of them used to belong to Thierry Bernard. The layers are very thick.

 

It seems that early sanmai had thick layers and were not done in repoussé.

 

http://yakiba.com/Tsuba_Ko-Kinko_Group.htm

[Pete Klein]

Thanks again. Thickness of the outer layer ~.75mm with the tsuba being ~4.25mm. I have a feeling these were all done in repousse' using the same technique as for kozuka and kogai, with the gauge of the metal having little bearing. what I find interesting in my example is that there is no fukurin to hold the pieces together or the placement of pins at the seppadai. the only technique I can visualize would be two layers being soldered at the mimi and finished yet I cannot find any evidence of a solder line. there is also no separation between the layers in the nakago ana. I would love to hear Ford's take on this.

 

Junichi -- Very little in the way of books. Actually, most of what is written in this field is conjecture (heresy!!!) therefore use it all as a starting point and go forward by hands on experience. Takes about ten years to get started.

[Curran]

Glad Peter posted this thread.

Yesterday on a rather brutal work day, the one brightspot was a tsuba arriving in the mail.

 

Photo attached. Apologies for the lighting, as it is another grey winter day here in NYC.

~~~~ I've been sort of on a Wave theme bender of late, and liked the paulownia on waves design.

This is the tsuba that showed up, 3 piece construction with a black fukurin. After cleaning some dirt off it, proved much nicer than I expected.

The paulownia are alternating gold and silver, though it is difficult to see the silver given its oxidation.

 

I don't have much experience with these 3 piece kinko works.

Higher quality shakudo mounted over a base plate of copper.

As peter said, these things probably looked great mounted.

[Brian]

Pete's is definitely interesting, since the fukurin usually hides the layers and keeps it together. I am not 100% sure how it is constructed without the rim...are there no signs at all of rivets, even if well blended? No signs of layers on the edges either, so they must be wrapped in design somehow?

 

Brian

[Pete Klein]

As long as we're on construction issues I thought I'd add something about Ko Mino work. Genuine Ko Mino kogai and kozuka - as in old, old - are not done by repousse'. They are vertically carved. Here is an example (I wish were mine):

 

 

Go to the web page for more pictures: http://tsuruginoya.com/mn1_3/f00042.html

[b.hennick]

Amazing! It is hard to believe the 3d nature of the carving. The side view is wonderful.

[John A Stuart]

Ko-Mino, my fav. Obviously the jiita is from an earlier piece. I am curious; by "この笄は、元来、笄だったものを江戸期に小柄に仕立て直したものである。"; it seems this indicates that the jiita was originally from a kogai (笄)? Very interesting recovery. John

[Curran]

Seen that one in person too.

So deeply cut.

 

Don't own any kozuka, ~~but if I did, that would be one to own.

If it just had Toku Hozon papers instead of Juyo, I would have already found the way to own it. There is a reason I bought those ko-mino books from you.

 

At juyo price, too lofty for the current budget.

Like I said, it was a tough week.

Working on it.

[Pete Klein]

John - pieces such as this are 'kogai naoshi', or 'repurposed' kogai jita in modern parlance.

 

Curran -- yeah, I know. I have one already but this one makes me greedy beyond dreams of avarice...