my fav edo tsuba

[lonely panet]

Hi, here is my most liked edo period tsuba. Im not really sure of the details, I was told it might be chikuzen??

If any one else can offer some more ideas of school that would be nice, but if not please just enjoy it, because I think its a really nice piece of art.

 

regards Hamish

[Curran]

gonna go with 'kodai Umetada'.

Ie. Late period Umetada.

Often they are signed by lesser known or near unknown artists identifying with the Umetada Ke. Sometimes not signed. Tend to be simple nature centric. Flowers, leaves, small streams, insects, bits of color of a another metal sometimes.

 

Opinion is based off similar signed pieces I have owned, the texture / hammering of the tsuba, the sort of shoe shine grey-black slight gloss reminiscent of them,

and the hint of what probably where little silver beads in & lost out of the tsuba (see small round craters) to give it a watery, slightly wet feel to the carving of a stream or water trickle.

[lonely panet]

Thank your for your reply, its good to finally have a idea of the school. I normally collect gunto but when found the piece I decided to buy it. it may have cost me abit to much for a late edo tsuba (AU $500) but I really liked the detail of the carving and the good ring it made when flicked.

 

thanks again for replying so quickly

regards Hamish

[Henry Wilson]

Could it be Aizu Shoami? The reason I ask is because it reminds me of this:

http://www.finesword.co.jp/sale/kodougu ... 44/544.htm

 

The theme is Tatsutagawa according to the caption.

Just a thought.

[Curran]

Henry,

 

I'm confident on the Umetada call for this one. Hamish probably doesn't know me any better than he knows Ghandi, so he can believe whomever is kind enough to speak up.

 

Hamish- I have a strong disposition to nature themes in my tsuba collecting. Many years ago I owned a signed late Edo Umetada similar to yours. Someone had gone to the trouble of prying out about 80% of the silver, so I eventually sold it. By my reckoning, you overpaid a little. Not a lot.

[lonely panet]

thankyou for both of your input, tsuba are a bit of a weak point for me.

the Umetada school, from what I read in some books are known to have this odd shape to there edges of the tsuba, but from what I can gather it was only in the early Shinto period that they had that style. Did they continue this up till the late edo?

 

I thought the class of work was pretty good (to me) why dosent this school have a better reputation?,

or is this piece one of there better examples?

I enjoy sakashi tsubas from akasaka and shoami schools but the prices on some of them are a bit high for what I see. please correct me if I have committed a sin by saying that

 

Regards Hamish

[Curran]

On the contrary, the Umetada school is held in decent to high esteem.

Shape changed a lot over the years.

 

The early work and the more intricate work is extremely highly valued.

Even the mid school work can be very valuable if an excellent example of what the school is most known:

http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.c ... pper-zogan

That one sold fast at that price, with several back up buyers.

 

Towards late Edo they went a little overly commercial, as did many schools did.

Their earlier soft metal examples are a bit more desirable.

The cheapest softmetal one I've seen in a long time is here: http://www.nona.dti.ne.jp/~sword/tuba/t0423umetada.html

but it is kinda a strange and weakly inlaid design.

 

The later Edo Umetada iron ones are a bit more common and often signed, but I find many of them appealing.

The supply vs demand is just such that they are not overly expensive.

If I didn't limit myself to a strict # of tsuba, I'd probably own several examples of flower or vine designs by them.

[Marius]

Here are another two Umetada tsuba (both from the late Muromachi period):

 

http://www.yamabushiantiques.com/TSUBA86.htm

 

http://www.yamabushiantiques.com/CH%20Tsuba%201.htm

[Soshin]

Hi Hamish,

 

I am a fan of early Umetada school iron work with gold inlay. Here is a nice one from my collection: http://dastiles1.wix.com/reflections-#!Azuchi-Momoyama%20Period%20Tsuba/c5om.

[Marius]

Hi Hamish,

 

I am a fan of early Umetada school iron work with gold inlay. Here is a nice one from my collection: http://dastiles1.wix.com/reflections-#!Azuchi-Momoyama%20Period%20Tsuba/c5om.

 

David,

 

most people don't scroll down, they will see the Namban tsuba and get somewhat confused

 

Here is a link to the pictures:

 

http://dastiles1.wix.com/reflections-#! ... /image1v33

 

A very good tsuba BTW. And it is for sale

And I don't have any money.

[Curran]

What a sad bunch of broke bums we are these days.

I'm still recovering from the April meltdown in Gold and Silver prices.

 

Going to get me a Cardboard Sign, a dark crayon and write "Will work for Tsuba!"

[Soshin]

Hi Mariusz K.,

 

Don't worry I don't think it is going anywhere anytime soon. Thank you very much for the better link to the specific tsuba I was referring to on my website. The extreme turn-up of the rim and its thickness (6.0 mm) relative to thinness of seppa-dai I think helps protect the complex gold inlays from rubbing and becoming damaged when the tsuba was mounted on a sword and used.

 

P.S. Curran, I was thinking the price of gold and silver was a bit over hyped in the media. There is good news in regards to the YEN exchanged rate which effects us all in this hobby.