Namban - Hands Up If You Like Namban Tsuba

[JohnTo]

No one has posted a nanban copy of Spanish/Portugese cup type sword guard in this discussion, apart from the actual one posted by Grev.  So here is one I picked up recently in a job lot of 18 other tsuba.  Not really a favourite of mine, but I think has some interesting features.

The tsuba is thin and the iron has delaminated on the inside, indicating that the iron was fold forged rather than fashioned from a single sheet of homogenous material.  I don’t know how Spanish/Portugese  guards were forged, so I can’t say if the basic blank cup was European, Japanese or Chinese.  The inner surface of the tsuba retains about 50% of a red lacquer finish (carbon-14 dating would be interesting) and the outline of a seppa, showing that it was mounted on a sword in the traditional Japanese manner.  The outside also appears to have a seppa mark and the nagako ana is for a blade with a big nagako (3cm long, 0.8 cm wide).  I wonder which way it was mounted.  Japanese style would be with the decoration facing out from the wearer with the kogai hitsu on the right, so the open cup would be facing the blade,  European style would have the open cup facing along the tsuka and be great for collecting rainwater.

The tsuba is pierced with the standard kogai/kodzuka ryo hitsu and also has a large inome bori (boars eye) piercing.   The outside surface is a shiny black iron finish and has shallow gilt engravings of three phoenixes in gold with long grey (silver alloy gilding?) tails.  There are also three gold and one grey five-petal flowers, looking like clematis with their petals swirling anticlockwise.  The decoration looks more Chinese than Japanese in character and so this tsuba may have been made by Chinese artisans working in China or Japan (Nagasaki). 

Questions:

How old is the tsuba?  Oda Nobunaga was the champion of Spanish/Portugese styles, but he died in 1582.  I would thought that the European nanban style died with him, but see below.  This one looks totally impractical for use on a Japanese sword.

Is  the decoration filled with Christian symbolism?  There are three phoenixes depicted.  The holy trinity?  Phoenixes rise from the ashes.  Does this allude to the resurrection?  The inome bori is very large for a tsuba.  I believe that the sacred heart of Jesus is a potent Catholic symbol, but I’m not big on religion, so this may be a recent development.

The Spanish/Portugese/Jesuit influence in Japan plummeted in the early Edo period when the Japanese realised that conquest was in their minds and Christianity was heavily supressed.  So does this date from the time of Nobunaga?  The ryu hitsu would indicate a later date, but I am left wondering who would want to wear a tsuba like this in the Edo period.  I am of course assuming that this is a serious Japanese artefact and not a joke (ancient or modern).  Aoi-Art has a similar one for sale (Edo period), signed Kunihiro (www.aoijapan.com/tsubakunihiro/).  Compton also had one (part II, lot 11) signed by the swordsmith Sadayuki (fl. 1800).  So I guess they were made in the Edo period, but must have been way out of fashion.

Dimensions: Height: 8.5 cm, Width: 8.2 cm, Thickness (rim):  0.2 cm, Depth of bowl: 1.6 cm

Sorry about the quality of the photos, the colouring of the engraving does not stand out.  Comments welcome.

Best regards, John

(just a guy making observations, asking questions, trying to learn)

[Brian]

Very interesting guard John.
Have you read the article on small sword guards just added in the articles section, but Peter Bleed. Not quite the same, but some similar questions.
 

[TETSUGENDO]

John, that is an extremely unusual guard, I don't recall seeing one with these exact elements, the heavily lacquered interior is notable.   As to date,  the deeply cupped form, style of decoration and patina...this one looks at least 18th century.  As to liking Namban its hands down for me, the aesthetic doesn't move me........but I do find them a fascinating and important chapter in the story of the Japanese sword.

 

-S-

[Peter Bleed]

Thanks for showing us this tsuba, John. I wish I knew more about "wan-gata" guards. I've looked at lots of them, - and own a few - but generally I have NOT been sure that they are inspired by European designs. In this case, tho, I think you really have a piece that looks "European." It is very nice!

Peter

[parfaitelumiere]

A better shot of my sword guard.

The size is 78x73x6mm
The seppa dai is 33x21mm
There is a older rectangular cut remain, meaning the guard would be previously mounted on a non Japanese sword.
I like it, and I like how it will fit with my goto dragon fittings.