New Tempo Tsuba, Stumped On Theme, Comments Appreciated....

[rkg]

Hey guys,

 

I've been crazy busy for the last month or so helping the kid move and move my studio (which I -FINALLY- have gotten running again - yey!), so now I have a moment to catch up on useful things like actually looking at a couple of tsuba I bought, etc., and... 

 

I'm having trouble divining the meaning of the following piece - specifically, what is the sukashi on the right hand side of the front view?

 

 

Oh, and here's the back:

 

 

Thanks in advance,

 

rkg

(Richard George)

[Brian]

Richard,

No idea, but what a stunning tsuba.

And brings me back to the discussion we had on hard and soft iron. Looking at this one, one can only understand what is meant by soft iron, going by that wet and glossy look. Doesn't refer to the actual hardness, but the feeling one gets when seeing how it was worked.

[DirkO]

Hi Richard,

The ana were cut out later - try to imagine it without and you find the bonji:

[Rich S]

Richard -

 

Lovely tsuba. I think Dirk is correct (but I would never have seen nor guessed it) - good call Dirk.

Rich

[MauroP]

Hi Richard,

I have a tsuba with a similar sukashi. My hypothesis is it could represent a piece of smoking incense (kitsuen kō - 喫煙香).  In some tsuba this kind of shape is paired with a Genji-mon, and may suggest the practice of  Kōdō (香道).

My tsuba and one from http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/oldiron2.htm

Bye, Mauro

[Grey Doffin]

A cocker spaniel eating a jelly bean.

Grey

[MauroP]

OK Grey, you've convinced me!

[Rich S]

I have a Saotome/Tempo tsuba with a very similar Bonji (I think?). Would never have caught it except for this thread. Of course I have no idea which Bonji it is

Rich

[John A Stuart]

I feel the ko theme as most likely, in my view. John

PS, I have been unable to post for a couple of days. Transmission problems. J

[Tanto54]

Dear Richard,

 

Found this Tsuba on Aoi-Art with the same symbol but without the hitsu-ana (the Bonji idea was creative, but probably not correct).  Unfortunately, Aoi didn't know what it was either….

 

 

http://www.aoijapan.com/a-set-of-5-tsubas

 

[DirkO]

Yep, I think the incense burner idea is better, the similarities are far greater.

[b.hennick]

I'm surprised that no one picked up that it is a puzzle piece. 

[rkg]

Thanks to everybody who took the time to reply to my Rorschach test :-)

 

Best,

 

rkg

(Richard George)