The Most Boring Cute Tsuba Ever Made

[lonely panet]

Hi guys,

 

heres a post that is sure to annoy the elitist tsuba connoisseurs.

 

firstly I enjoy Japanese swords as weapons and as objects of art secondly, I have trouble understanding some peaples idea's of what a art sword should be, and why the lesser liked schools are shunned to the dark corners.

 

SSSSOOOO  Im posting some pics of a poor little tsuba that fits this title to a tee,

 

its a cute but plain soft metal tsuba made during the sengoku for a yorodoshi

 

please fell free to shot it down or enjoy this item that was made approx. 450-500 years ago during war, at a price, but has served all this time being refitted and punched inn to re-fit new blades

 

 

regards Hamish

[John A Stuart]

Nice colour and patina. John

[lonely panet]

its a puzzle to pick the metal, maybe yamagane with urushi?? or shakudo

 

the pin punching (awa ishime) is very Muromachi I think, but the crude hitsu ana is a puzzle to me

 

regards Hamish

[Gunome]

Hello,

 

 but the crude hitsu ana is a puzzle to me

 

 

Seems to be that the tsuba has been made initially without hitsu ana and that it had been cut for remounting purpose.

[Soshin]

its a puzzle to pick the metal, maybe yamagane with urushi?? or shakudo

 

the pin punching (awa ishime) is very Muromachi I think, but the crude hitsu ana is a puzzle to me

 

regards Hamish

Hi Hamish,

 

Your tsuba is yamagane with nice patina and a few layers of kuro-urushi on it. I sold a similar tsuba a few weeks ago made for a kodachi that dated from the early to mid Muromachi Period. The kozuka hitsu-ana is likely not original. I like these types of early tsuba.

[lonely panet]

thanks for your input guys, Im a fan of the early tsuba to David, and they can be well priced because they can appear plain to many.

 

not to brag guys, but it only cost me $11 USD, including postage under $30USD, so im VERY happy.

[Ford Hallam]

The metal may or may not be 'yama-gane' but given that no-one really knows what yamagane is/was it's a moot point. The whole natural copper theory is unsubstantiated and in fact in classical texts yamagane isn't anything to do with copper at all, nor it's alloys.

Any one of dozens of alloys might develop a patina such as this so trying to nail the alloy based on some photos on the internet is simply guesswork.

I can see no urushi myself nor any specific details or features that would allow for any sort of reasonable dating of the piece.

[Soshin]

Hi Everyone,

 

Clearly see what I think is worn black lacquer on the surface but then again the photos and lighting are not the best. Having the tsuba in hand in good lighting and it would be easy to tell.

[Rich S]

Whatever the metal is or isn't, it's a cute well used tsuba. Glad it survived the ravages of time and that someone got it who will love and care for the poor little thing :-)

Rich

[BMarkhasin]

Hamish,

 

Nice little kokinko tsuba.  Looks like yamagane and black lacquer as David suggested, and i agree that it could easily be Muromachi.  Brilliant price, well done!

 

Boris.