Tanto Tsuba...

[Soshin]

Hi Everyone,

 

Here is a friend's tanto tsuba he wanted me to do high quality photographs of and post a topic about on NMB for feedback and information. He will also want me to provide a write-up about the tanto tsuba. The measurements of this small elongated shaped (naga-maru gata 永丸形) tsuba are 5.4 cm wide by 5.8 cm high. The thickness at the rim is 3.8 mm and approximately 3.0 mm at the seppa-dai and the rim displays a fine turn up. The man face and hair are done silver inlay and the patterns on the his robes and flowers along the streambank are done with gold inlays. To me the workmanship, techniques, and design are all characteristic of the Aizu Shoami school circa the late Edo Period. It is also of my opinion the quality and detail of the workmanship is very good. I am a bit surprised that it lacks a signature.

In terms of subject of the design I not really sure. To me it looks like a old Chinese man collecting herbs near a streambank. Does anyone have a reference for this design and its meaning? My friend and fellow collector is interested in learning more details. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions or post feedback about the tsuba.

[christianmalterre]

i am not at all into kinko David,-as you know...

i but definitely do agree it´s certainly an very nice Tsuba!

 

Yes Chinese cloth and style of "wear"...

An wise man,confucian dress...confucian beard and hair knob....

Mid edo it seems me?(tagane could ben attributed even earlier indeed...!)

Nice plate!-good taste! and good iron indeed

look for Kaneie/(Kaneiye) influence....

Very nice-Very good!

(sorry-can not help more-not mine home )

 

Christian

[christianmalterre]

edit:

don´t let you confuse by these "enlongated" feet

You have to see this Tsuba mounted/fitted on Koshirae!

(small hint from mine part )

 

Excellent!Indeed....safe it!-LOL!

[Soshin]

Hi Christian M.,

 

Thanks for the replies. I started up my enigma machine and I have translated your comments to mean you like it. :lol: (This was only an attempt at a little bit of humor.)

I have a little bit more experience with these type of kinko and the heavy hammer iron surface and the turned up rim make me think late Edo Period in my honest opinion. The Aizu Shoami would also often do this iron on iron high relief inlay technique as a base for their inlays of soft metals. The person on the tsuba could be the Chinese wiseman Laozi?

[Henry Wilson]

A nice tsuba David. The plate looks good as well as the composition and the condition is excellent too.

 

The man could be a figure standing on a cliff. The way his robes seem to be blowing in the wind suggest this. The reverse side seems to be of a stream. Maybe he is standing on a peak and admiring the view of of a river or a waterfall.

 

Styistically, it reminds of a section typically found in 12th century Chinese paintings. The work of Ma Yuan comes to mind and below is one of his famous works:

 

The man in the painting above is a nobleman with a servant, but as Christian points out, I think your character is a sage, or a mountain dwelling hermit or someone on the path to enlightenment

 

The defining features of the character in your tsuba seems to be the herbs on his back and his smiling face which might be of help identifying him if you look through Legend in Japanese Art by Henri L. Joly http://archive.org/details/legendinjapanese00jolyuoft

 

I wonder if the herbs could in fact be tea leaves?

 

Just some thoughts.

[Danocon]

Not sure if this straying from the purpose of this post but as always I am interested in the quality and character of the plate.

 

My feeling is that the granulation and pits where inherent from the beginning-Albeit enhanced with age.

Would this be a true statement?

 

Really appealing tsuba David.

[Soshin]

Not sure if this straying from the purpose of this post but as always I am interested in the quality and character of the plate.

 

My feeling is that the granulation and pits where inherent from the beginning-Albeit enhanced with age.

Would this be a true statement?

 

Hi Dan,

 

No I don't think it is beyond the purpose of the topic to discuss the characteristics of the plate which is a significant part of the tsuba. The surface variation on this tsuba is the result of heavy hammering by the tsuba maker when he was forging the iron plate. This would have been done before any of the inlay work was done. While this is antique tsuba may be only around 150-200 years old the age would also enhance this original effect. Ford Hallan has been able to produce iron tsuba with a very nice simulated age effect through want I think is a patination process. There were also Edo Period tsuba makers that would apply a patina and other surface treatments with acid and heat to produce an aged worn effect. The Jingo school of Higo Province would often display a worn effect on its inlay work to make their tsuba look older.

 

Hi Henry,

 

Thanks for the reply. I have a large PDF copy of Henri L. Joly old book I will take a look at during my holiday. I been searching in The Art Appreciation of Japanese Sword Fittings by Shigeo Fukushi. I found a few fine Aizu Shoami tsuba with this type of silver inlay for the skin and hair of people as part of the design. One entry page 48 I think might explain the design and that is the Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher Confucius. In Japanese his name is Kōshi. Attached is a photo I did of the gate at a Confucian temple in Nagasaki, Japan. Some very beautiful architecture at the temple and museum.

[runagmc]

It seems unusual that the face is inlayed silver, but the feet aren't... the face almost looks out of place. It is a nice piece, though...

[Soshin]

Hi Adam L.,

 

I really like it and at the time in Kyoto silver was a very expensive soft metal. That feature I have seen in other high quality pieces attributed to the Aizu Shoami school of the mid to late Edo Period. The head and sometimes the hands would be inlaid in silver. I have never seen feet. Here is a good example of what I am talking about on the Japanese Blog 鐔鑑賞記 by Zenzai: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tsuba_001/e/2f99837f99a4374b1f71891eb4c8a303.

 

I once had a Aizu Shoami tsuba of Fudo Myo-O that had his sword inlaid nicely in silver. It was from the same time period as this tsuba.

[Danocon]

Thanks David,

More than the hammer marks I like the granulated look of the plate. I am enjoying the Tosho Tsuba with Gumbai I got from you. Despite the rough texture I was surprised at how smooth and pleasant it feels to the hand.

[kaigunair]

...at the time in Kyoto silver was a very expensive soft metal. .

 

could someone expand on this? I would have thought up until the mid-late edo period silver and gold were both considered precious metals; what would have made silver especially expensive during that particular time period? Towards the end of the edo period, silver became much more plentiful as Europeans took full advantage of the gold/silver exchange rate set by the shogunate which afforded a huge arbitrage opportunity; massive amounts of foreign silver flowed into Japan to be exchanged for gold. Am I missing something here?

[John A Stuart]

Japan had sources of both gold and silver and of course gold was more valuable. The only diference I know is that silver is harder to work being less ductile and tough to cold work and must be continually reheated to work. This could cause siver artefacts to be accordingly rather expensive. Check the 'silver pharoah' for example. Ford may elaborate perhaps. See, http://www.kikkoman.co.jp/kiifc/foodcul ... 09_014.pdf for some interest. John

[kaigunair]

John, thanks for the info and the interesting article. Its so positive about Japan, it does make me wonder how factual it is. Also, given the Japanese perchant to "show the best face" to foreigners, I'm not sure how accurate it is to use so many foreigner accounts to describe Edo Japan. At the same time, it makes me wonder how much of the negative imagery of Edo Japan might be due to the post meiji revisionists.

 

But back to the question about gold and silver, based on the article, it looks like these metals might have been much more plentiful in Edo Japan that I had original thought. Much appreciated.

[Soshin]

...at the time in Kyoto silver was a very expensive soft metal. .

 

could someone expand on this? I would have thought up until the mid-late edo period silver and gold were both considered precious metals; what would have made silver especially expensive during that particular time period? Towards the end of the edo period, silver became much more plentiful as Europeans took full advantage of the gold/silver exchange rate set by the shogunate which afforded a huge arbitrage opportunity; massive amounts of foreign silver flowed into Japan to be exchanged for gold. Am I missing something here?

 

Hi Junichi,

 

Silver was never worth more then gold that is true but during the Edo Period Kyoto was on a silver monetary standard and Edo was on a gold monetary standard. Europeans and Americans took full advantage of the gold/silver exchange rate only after Commodore Perry visit to open Japan up to foreign trade circa 1850. Before this most of the silver was traded through the only foreign port of Deijima in Nagasaki to the VOC and Dutch.

[kaigunair]

 

Silver was never worth more then gold that is true but during the Edo Period Kyoto was on a silver monetary standard and Edo was on a gold monetary standard.

 

Hi David,

 

I never said that silver was worth more than gold. What I was questioning was the statement "at the time in Kyoto silver was a very expensive soft metal". I was just wondering at what earlier period was silver not a relatively expensive metal. It appears that there was a later period where silver was more plentiful. I was thinking that perhaps during the the relatively less expensive late bakumatsu period, we would see an increase in the use of silver or shibuichi.

 

I know that there was a period when brass was a relatively expensive material, and later on was not. Was trying to get clarification on the earlier period where silver wasn't as expensive...

[John A Stuart]

That idea may have been my fault and not my intent. The sarcophagus of the pharoah Psusennes I or the 'Silver Pharoah' is made of silver (metal of the moon) and because of its difficulty in being cold worked and the size of it not to be considered really much more of a lesser metal than that which comprised the sarcophagus of Tutankhamun, gold (the metal of the Sun). There was a period where silver was imported into Japan by the boat load. This was the Mexican silver 'dollar' peso which was overstruck by the Japanese government. John

[Soshin]

Hi Junichi,

 

Discuss my friend's tsuba only please. Your questing of such minor points on my posts as if I was in some way attaching you has nothing to do with the tsuba in question. I was simply providing a little bit of extra information. If you have a personal problem with me send me a PM let's discuss it don't use thread space.

[kaigunair]

Hi Junichi,

 

Discuss my friend's tsuba only please. Your questing of such minor points on my posts as if I was in some way attaching you has nothing to do with the tsuba in question. I was simply providing a little bit of extra information. If you have a personal problem with me send me a PM let's discuss it don't use thread space.

 

Hi David,

 

Hmmm, I was only pointing out that words were being put into my mouth, which I'm hoping was unintentional. I would ask that you please keep to the subject of the tsuba and don't make this personal. I still think my question regarding silver was a valid one. In the context of this tsuba, there was a comment about the value of silver in the context of dating it. Is this now incorrect? I would think the connection to this tsuba discussion is clear: perhaps it would appear that this tsuba might be dated later than mid-edo, during a time when silver was relatively more common because Japan was being flooded with it? If silver was more common and less expensive, then it would be used in more tosogu, even those of lesser quality.

 

I'm trying to understand how the use of silver in the context of this tsuba points to a mid-edo or earlier date. Feel free to PM me if you think this question is inappropriate...

 

[Soshin]

Hi Junichi,

 

I think there has been fair bit of misunderstanding and confusion and I take full responsibility and blame for that. I will leave it at that.

 

Now back to the tsuba. In my original write up the workmanship of this tsuba indicates in my opinion that this tsuba was made in the late Edo Period. When I say this I am basing this on comparison of this tsuba to other signed pieces that display similar or the same workmanship that are signed and attributed to Aizu Shoami school. When I state late Edo Period I referring to the approximate period of about 1770-1868. Silver while a precious metal was often used by the Aizu Shoami school at this time period as a metal to highlight important parts of the design.