Strange Tsuba With No Fukurin

[wbt]

Has anyone seen a Tsuba like this before?  Judging from the hitsu ana it appears to be muromachi era piece.  It is 70mm with a 23mm hitsu ana.  There doesn't appear to have ever been a Fukurin. A Japanese collegue of mine said he thinks this is a common muromachi theme of a fishing net.  I can believe that, but have never seen one like this before.

 

Anyones thoughts would be appreciated.

Regards,

Brent

 

[John A Stuart]

No mimi. Needs a fukurin. This would catch on everything I'm thinking. Was the mimi broken and removed I wonder? John

[Gunome]

Looks like a Kyo sukashi on which mimi had been removed.

maybe broken as John suggested

[b.hennick]

Hi Brent:

I know two people who could add a fukurin to the tsuba if you are so inclined. I think that did have one at one time. 

[Pete Klein]

Looks like it had severe rust damage and was dropped which caused the mimi to separate.  If you look at the kozuka ana area you can see it has been compressed and deformed.

[wbt]

I will do some close ups of the Tsuba. It is surprising healthy and not damaged. The angle of the photo is not good. If you examine the Mimi or balls at the end. They are all uniform as if they were made this way and nothing appears to be cut. Also the rust/patina is uniform as well. My guess is if it had a fukurin it was removed a long time ago and the Mimi area was refinished. I am tempted to send it back to Japan and see what people think there.

 

Barry,

This is a Tsuba Chico had and sent pictures to Japan for certain people to comment on. They said it was normal and made in early to mid Muromachi. I believe the time period, but not that it is normal.

 

Thanks

Brent

[Ed]

I think everyone has been quite kind in their replies.  Personally, I can't fathom why anyone would want it, though I respect your right to like it.  

 

I do strongly disagree with your comment that it is "surprisingly healthy" and "not damaged".  It is clearly suffered the effects of oxidation, ie; rust. and shows evidence of this, especially along the area marked in green.  The kozuka ana marked in blue has clearly been bent/distorted by some means, as Pete stated above. Also, the small piece circled in red is quite obviously bent.

 

My guess is the tsuba, primarily the mimi(rim) suffered extensive corrosion. The worst of it being on the right side, and subsequently the rim was removed.  

Did you purchase this on e-bay ??

 

Sending this tsuba to Japan would be a waste of shipping expenses IMHO.

 

I don't enjoy coming across negative, and have tried to tone down my comments in order to avoid offending anyones delicate sensibilities, but pussy footing around about the quality of this tsuba is not doing you any favors. 

[wbt]

No harm taken.  I didn't purchase this tsuba.  It came on a Koshirae from Japan and was replaced by a more appropriate one. (The koshirae was a very nice early Edo one with Silver fittings and this Muromachi iron one didn't belong.)  I have seen hundreds of tsubas and never one like this without mimi..  I have even seen ones with the Mimi or Fukurin removed and they are generally badly damaged.  My curiosity in asking about it was that a very well known Nihonto Scholar in Japan said it was perfectly normal and had seen ones like this before.  I found that incredible, but wasn't going to second guess his wisdom.  I am only looking for collective opinion here as to whether anyone as scene this type before.  Obviously not, so case closed.

[jason_mazzy]

for fun can we get pictures of where the missing pieces would have been attached?

[Marius]

Jason,

 

Eric has one on eBay:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/18-C-SUKASHI-KATANA-TSUBA-NBTHK-Japanese-Samurai-Sword-Fuchi-Kashira-Menuki-/281496638458?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item418a81d3fa

 

I also attach a picture

 

It looks like the tsuba was heavily damaged, as Ed has pointed out, the rim was removed and replaced with a soft metal fukurin, lost since. 

[jason_mazzy]

I am almost curious if it wasnt removed on purpose by someone later.

[Marius]

Yes, after it was damaged (the rim probably had hagire).