How Were Tsuba, Menuki, And Fuchi Kashira Chosen?

[general_piffle]

By how were these elements of a sword's 'furnishings' chosen I'm talking about their design. Say you have a Tsuba with bamboo as the main part of its design do the Menuki and Fuchi Kashira then also follow suit and have bamboo somewhere in their design.

 

Or were choices more random? So you could have (for example) a spider in a web as Menuki, dragons on the Fuchi Kashira and maple leaves on the Tsuba?

 

I'm curious to know the thinking that went into marrying these elements to a sword and what if any continuity there was between them. Thank you.

 

Joel

[Kevin Adams]

It depends. Court koshirae followed a very strict design sense (lots of thematic "matching") and palette of materials. Non-court koshirae would reflect the aesthetic sense (refined or not), station and general wealth of the owner.

 

A set of fittings needn't "match" in the sense that we associate with the word, but each piece would have had some sense of meaning and/or continuity to the owner (for instance, a set of menuki with a monkey on one and a moon on the other) based on their level of artistic and cultural exposure. The "match" is in the cultural or personal symbolism - so the combination you describe (which admittedly is quite random) may not have been so random to the original owner.

 

It's up to us to study the thematic content, the quality of work and the materials used - and their place within Japan's cultural symbolism.

[Brian]

It has been discussed before here. Seems us in the West are far more concerned with matching everything than the original owners were. Sometimes a theme would be similar to tie things together, but not in an "in your face" way.

[seattle1]

Hi:

Excellent question! Brian is of course entirely correct about Western notions tending towards lock step type matching, however Robert Haynes used to refer to entirely nice and appropriate koshirae when the various pieces were, to quote, "consanguineous," which I think implies in the same general family or theme, congenial with each other, but not necessarily made to go together. If you look at old koshirae matching images which show koshirae of samurai, some very high, they are often "mismatched", and of course some of the owners could have ordered anything they wanted. Just good aesthetic taste is called for.

Arnold F.

[ROKUJURO]

In many cases we uninformed Westerners do not understand the Eastern Asian mythical relations we can find in compositions like bamboo and sparrow, tiger and bamboo, turtle and crane, a.s.o. What looks like random to us, may make sense to Japanese minds.

Many decorative elements are derived from legends and tales, so for a deeper understanding it is a good idea to read books on these subjects.   

[Chango]

I understand there were strict rules imposed and enforced under the Tokugawa Shogunate over various sword design aspects... from size of blade to koshirae decoration and even materials used. Perhaps Edo era Samurai had very little choice over what their sword looked like after all? 

[Jean]

Jason,

 

But for the length of swords, I am not aware of any regulation on swords mounting, (except of course for Court attendance)

[Ken-Hawaii]

I have a good friend who comes from a Samurai family, & also collects Nihonto. On one of my trips to Japan, we had a discussion over quite a number of beers regarding "dressing out" a blade. He simply couldn't understand why I was at all interested in creating a theme, or even matching fuchi, kashira, & tsuba. He feels it must be a Western mode of thought, although he was the guy who showed me how much difference the weight of a tsuba makes in the balance of a sword.

 

Ken

 

[Ron STL]

Perhaps in the future, swords redressed by non-Japanese to today's Western standards will "stand out" (recognized) to future collectors as 21st century redressed koshirae. No doubt somebody will publish a book on them one day down the road. It always bothers me to see so many people so involved in practice of redressing a sword, but to each his own.  Ron STL

[Tanto54]

Following up on and augmenting what others have said, I'm surprised to hear that anyone with much experience with sword fittings would say that having a theme running across the fittings (i.e., either a common look, matched set, motif, legend or thematic allusion, related articles - like tea ceremony tools, etc.) on a good sword was unusual.  I've always been taught and understood that having such a “theme” was the standard instead of the exception and anyone with basic sword fittings knowledge understood this.  I have rarely seen a decent sword (i.e., one that has been "outfitted" - not talking about mass produced junk) that was outfitted at least 150 years ago (using this to screen out tourist and Western outfitting) that did not have such a theme across the fittings.  For good swords, I'd say the percentage without any theme would be less than 20% (and some of those are probably just themes that we didn't recognize).  So how can we explain Ken’s friend? (no offense intended)  How could a Japanese from a Samurai family who collects swords not understand this basic fact?  I see this in Japan all the time with many of the different Japanese arts (and with my wife who is a Japanese artist...).  Modern Japanese know very little about the legends, myths and motifs that are on ancient Japanese art, and quite often, it is the Westerner, who studies their legends, mythology and folktales, that can spot the theme.  Do any of the experts here really disagree?

[general_piffle]

From reading the posts here and doing a bit more studying online I'm coming to the conclusion that actually - identical to today (so no surprises there) - having a theme as such was and is a personal choice. So some would have a clear theme in mind when briefing a craftsman to dress their sword and others really wouldn't be that bothered. 

 

In effect no different to today say if one of us was buying a new car and deliberating over optional extras, metallic or non-metallic paint, matching trim, etc. or simply saying "yep, I want the 2.5 manual 5 door and that's it".

[Chango]

Jason,

 

But for the length of swords, I am not aware of any regulation on swords mounting, (except of course for Court attendance)

 

Guess that's what I mean...

 

Anyway, I wondered about the seemingly non-matching fittings with my sword but the idea that Koshirae don't necessarily have a "theme" makes pefect sense to me now considering Japanese asthetics.

 

Consider a Japanese Garden vs a European formal garden for example...

 

A Japanese garden is more of a microcosm of the larger natural world with many different elements that while being "unmatching" are still carefully chosen/placed and are intended to be enjoyed singularly and up close or from the broad perspective of the entire garden... basically a garden that can be appreciated from many different perspectives.

 

A formal European garden on the other will repeat patterns, identical species of plants equally spaced and trimmed and in a clear order with the general intention of wowing the viewer with it's size, technical complexity and visual complication of the whole garden. You won't get the same effect if you just look at the pieces... a single bush is just a bush but a whole pattern of identical looking bushes is what makes it special in other words.

 

Perhaps sword decoration worked under the same general philosophy as the Japanese Garden? It seems to me Tsubas, blades, menuki, ect display by themselves just as well as they do mounted on a complete koshirae but you aren't likely to see a display of just longsword pommels or bare blades (that aren't archaeological finds, anyway).