New Article About Christian Tsuba

[Stephen]

If i drive by the old power plant with its brick smoke stack  rising to the sky and i think phallic symbol, does that mean im light in my loafers or just miss my youth???? riddle me that one BatMan!!

[MauroP]

Gents, just for keeping on exercise our critical thinking I wish to propose a tsuba from Bonhams auction (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/22248/lot/1187/).

It has already been sold, so I'm not interfering with the market. Here we have an overt Christian symbol, but IMHO it's just forgery to sell better the tsuba...
Bye, Mauro

[Stephen]

Looks sooo added after the fact!

[kaigunair]

In the same vein as hidden Christians, there were a number of domains that were anti-tokugawa during the entire edo period.  If any warrior wares would express hidden messages, these daimyo's and samurai's wares would have.  its interesting that little to no research is done on studying tsuba symbolism from these domains for anti-tokogawa themes.  For all the same reasons that have been raised about the dangers of being against the dominant authority (the shogun and note the emperor), any such themes would have to be at the level of any hidden Christian tosogu, and even more hidden than the overt/obvious machibori expressions of shogunal dissatisfaction and the social class that originally was intended for.

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Junichi

 

I suppose if we want to look for evidence of anti-Tokugawa sentiment in tsuba we might start by examining the works produced in Choshu and Satsuma, both these domains being veritable hotbeds of dissent.

 

Here's one example that might count, a Choshu tsuba featuring a Ho-o-bird and the Imperial Paulownia crest, an overt signal of allegiance to the Emperor as opposed to the Shogunate perhaps?

From Grey's site btw.

 

I imagine it would be a fairly simple project to survey Choshu and Satsuma tsuba to look for similar possible anti-shogunate expressions. We might discover the hidden language of Choshu botanical themed tsuba designs.

 

Perhaps this might be a new thread, the topic might yield some interesting observations and there are certainly more than enough fine examples of both schools published in print and on-line.

[manfrommagnum]

I wonder is using an SEM and removing some of the Crucifix on the suspect tsuba would reveal under-surface patination that could be compared using MPIB-MS for chemistry differences. Then a hypothesis can be formed about the time of application of the cross relative to tsuba manufacturing.

[IanB]

Whilst the Tokugawa shogunate did persecute Christians, and with dreadful violence, they were rather more pragmatic in reality. Luis Sotelo was a Franciscan preaching in Edo when a Spanish bullion ship floundered at Chiba. These ships, often of enormous size (Will Adams says this one was 1000 tonnes), were involved in trade between Mexico and the Chinese in SE Asia who would only deal in silver. On board was Rodrigo de Vivero who agreed with Ieyasu and Hidetada that it might be possible to establish a Spanish trading post in Edo if the Japanese would allow Spanish ships to shelter in Japanese ports during storms. A ship was dispatched with Rodrigo de Vivero and a Japanese bullion dealer called Tanaka Shosuke on board to negotiate with the Mexican authorities. Meanwhile Sotelo, who had translated for de Vivero, cured the favourite concubine of Date Masamune of an illness and was invited to Sendai. It was at this point that the Tokugawa expelled all priests and other Catholics from Edo and other Tokugawa contralled areas, but allowed the daimyo to chose whether to do the same or not. To cut a long tale short, eventually the Tokugawa decided to negotiate with the Spanish King directly rather dealing with lesser authorities in Mexico. Sotelo was needed as translator for the mission but he was in Sendai and the Tokugawa could hardly be seen dealing with a priest - nor could they be seen sending a mission to a Catholic king. As a result Mukai Shogen the Tokugawa Admiral and Will Adams acted as intermediaries and ordered Date Masamune to organise the Keicho mission to Spain. It was while that mission was in Europe that the ban on Catholicism was extended throughout the country. On the missions return, Date got a right roasting from the Tokugawa but rather bravely wrote back pointing out that it was they who had written letters of introduction for the Spanish king, had the ship built the mission sailed on, supplied samurai bodyguards for Hasekura and supplied the gifts including armours and swords. Never let your beliefs get in the way of a good deal!

On another tack, the Royal Armouries have a kozuka with a stream along which are floating three leaves and above which flies a butterfly. With a glass, the separated leaves can be seen to be aoi leaves - perhaps indicative of the break up of the Tokugawa with the butterfly perhaps implying a short existance. Dangerous stuff but very subtley hidden.

Ian Bottomley

[Ford Hallam]

I wonder is using an SEM and removing some of the Crucifix on the suspect tsuba would reveal under-surface patination that could be compared using MPIB-MS for chemistry differences. Then a hypothesis can be formed about the time of application of the cross relative to tsuba manufacturing.

 

To apply the crucifix would require the cleaning of the patinated ground so no original patina would be expected underneath the cross, nor the immediate surrounds.  Having said that the complexities of rust patina are incredibly varied and subtle so I doubt any conclusive or absolute evidence could be deduced from this sort of analysis. It's not a new problem in archaeological analysis.

 

But even if clear differences in the chemistry of different areas of patina could be discerned this would still not provide any reliable time reference.

[Peter Bleed]

What a great thread. Thank you all - and just think of how Ford might being his time if he weren't engaging us in this wonderful topic.

Lest we become too sectarian, I have to suggest that few of those "300,000 Christians" were likely to have been deeply versed in the doctrinal implications that  term might suggest. These were guys on "this" side rather than"that" side of Kyushu Sengoku-jidai politics. I also do not think that many of these neat tsuba date from before the Edo period.

Peter

[Bugyotsuji]

Not to forget that the Japanese were masters in the art of deniability. Within Kabuki plays could be hidden criticism of the present government, set safely in the distant past, and many Ukiyo-e were full of images which somehow managed to dodge official proclamations against this or that. The closer to the bone the better and braver, until you inadvertantly overstepped the mark and drew the eyes of the authorities. The greater the built-in deniability factor, the less we today will be able to see anything obviously 'Christian'. Shimazu continued to use their cross Mon, insisting that they had used it way back from the early middle ages. (Although Chritianity was formalized a thousand years earlier and could have come to Japan by any number of means.) Even the writing of 十 (10) was problematical, stroke order and harai direction becoming vital.

[Guido]

I don't think the Shimazu had to do a lot of insisting, since their mon is a kutsuwa, not a Christian cross. And that Chritianity could have come to Japan a thousand years earlier by any number of means is quite the theory. It's like saying the many paintings of falcons in Japan might have been inspired by the Egyptian deity Horus ...

[IanB]

The Shimazu kutsuwa kamon was a modification of their original kamon of JU in a circle that was in use during the second half of the 16th century. A Shimazu armour given to King Philip II of Spain in 1585 has the older form and was thought to be a Christian cross as late as the 1960's. With a lens a small tick can be seen at the base of the upright stroke showing it was JU.

Ian Bottomley

[Ford Hallam]

 With a lens a small tick can be seen at the base of the upright stroke showing it was JU.

Ian Bottomley

 

what an odd detail to add to a gift for a king.

[Bugyotsuji]

Ian, if the tick goes left, it's a Christian cross.

 

If you write one =  一, and then a downstroke to complete 10 十, there will be a little uptick on the right end of the cross-stroke as the brush lifts to head for the top of the vertical stroke.

 

If you write the top-down vertical stroke first, as the Christians tended to do, then you get the left up-tick at the bottom as the brush rises to start the cross-stroke from the left.

 

There is a very Christian reason for this. If anyone has read this far and wants to know the hidden Christian symbolism, apply here: (although we have surely discussed this already.)

 

As you know, the Christian Mori who moved into Tsuyama Castle had this cross with the bottom left uptick too.

[IanB]

Piers, The tick indeed does go to the left - I bow to your knowledge of calligraphy. The Spanish archives describe the original maedate as being two 'tufts' or 'tails' of black hair between which was a device of a 'cross of that country'. I need to alter the records since I read the kanamono as the kanji JU which the Shimazu did use - see catalogue of the Nishimura Museum, p25. So the original owner of this armour reverts to being uncertain. 

Ian Bottomley

[IanB]

Ford, Your entomology ain't too good. 

Ian Bottomley

[Brian]

Indeed...especially since his ticks can jump like fleas

 

Piers, well described, and makes perfect sense to me. Thanks.

[Ford Hallam]

So this Shimazu mon is and isn't a Christian one then...

 

[John A Stuart]

Hmmmm! That is interesting. From what source is this, Piers? In calligraphy there are two basic vertical brushstrokes 1) 'shu' as in 十 2) 'shugou' as in 小. The shugou always hooks left. In horizontal strokes the hengou, horizontal hook stroke always hooks down. The only up hooks are on slanting or bending strokes. Heck, I'm no calligrapher though. John

[Bugyotsuji]

Love that one, Ford. A perfect example of deniability!

[Bugyotsuji]

A conundrum for the authorities indeed.

 

John, my source was verbal, a Japanese Christian nurse who mentioned in passing what was handed down within her family. (There is an old Catholic Church and much evidence of hidden communities and a Christian tradition in this area.)

[Bugyotsuji]

She explained that to draw a cross with a brush, you start with God the Father and draw down to the human self. You then go sideways to symbolize the equality of human brother- or sisterhood.

[John A Stuart]

That is how it is signed with the hand as well. You see it with some footballers coming onto the pitch. I notice the Shimazu crest has an upward hook on the hengou stroke. This must be deliberate signal effect, Sosho has the downward hook normally even the character 'ju' in s◌̄sho style has a different way of writing it, so, the secret cross analogy has some merit it seems. John

[paul V]

In “A History of the Catholic Church in Japan from its beginnings to the early Meiji era”, Joseph Jennes refers to Christian tsuba (but also to banners, helmets, stirrups and saddles). He shows one he found in one of the books of the art historian Tei Nishimura;  “Namban-bijutsu”  (Tokyo 1958 西村貞、『南蛮美術』、大日本雄弁会講談社、1958).

So it seems that at least Tei Nishimura believed in Christian tsuba.

 

Paul V

 

[Kurikata]

Would you consider this one as a real Namban Christian Tsuba?

[Ford Hallam]

Yesterday I was asked for my thoughts on this article about Bushido, specifically how it was presented to the West by Inazo Nitobe in his infamous book Bushido: The Soul of Japan.

 

From my own reading of various authors and researchers I'd have to say the article in question is pretty accurate.

 

From the article:

 

In 1900 writer Inazo Nitobe's published Bushido: The Soul of Japan in English, for the Western audience. Nitobe subverted fact for an idealized imagining of Japan's culture and past, infusing Japan's samurai class with Christian values in hopes of shaping Western interpretations of his country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bushido: The Soul of Japan represents a synthesis of Japanese culture with Western ideology. Nitobe tames Japan's samurai class by fusing it with European chivalry and Christian morality. "I wanted to show…" Nitobe admitted, "that the Japanese are not really so different (from people of the West)" (Benesch 165). Although it saw release years after the extinction of the samurai, Bushido: The Soul of Japan presents an original idealization and idolization of the samurai class.

Yet Nitobe shapes the concept of bushido around principles of Western culture, not the other way around as might be expected. Bushido: The Soul of Japan offers a suspicious lack of references to Japanese source material and historical fact. ...

 

In his self-proclaimed formulation of The Soul of Japan, the devout Christian references the Western Bible more than any other sources. Somehow Nitobe sees Bible quotes as appropriate and satisfactory support for bushido. "The seeds of the Kingdom (of God) as vouched for and apprehended by the Japanese mind," Nitobe declares, "blossomed in Bushido."

Nitobe spends much of the book ascribing bushido to the tenets of Christianity.

 

 

 

Given that this then shaped the Western imagining of Samurai culture at the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th century I wonder to what extent this might be reflected in the later addition of obvious Christian symbols to tsuba intended to appeal to Western tourists and collectors. More simply put, how do we know when the various Christian crosses as occasionally seen on tsuba as simple cut outs, and the like, were actually made? If a curio seller in Yokohama in 1900 knew that a Christian cross on an otherwise uninteresting tsuba might catch the eye of an approving Christian gentleman I have no doubt there would be no scruples in getting that cross cut out post haste. 

[IanB]

Ford, An excellent point. Mortimer Luddington Menpes in his book about his time in Japan describes his association with a Japanese curio dealer and how the market adapted to appeal to the tastes and needs of Victorian tourists, producing such things as embroidered Buddhist temple hangings that had no existence until that point. There is a delicious sequence about a door knocker that Menpes wanted for his house in Cadogan Gardens that he was fitting out in the Japanese style. In the end a contraption consisting of a metal ball dangling on a silk cord was devised and shipped back to England together with lacquered doors, ceiling panels and all the rest.

Ian Bottomley 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Yup, chicken-and-egg time again. Sometimes a pretty strong case can be made one way or the other, with circumstantial evidence, but often we are led to middle ground where we can either romanticize or back-pedal.

 

The other day I was shown a box full of objects that had come out of a neighborhood Kura and asked if I wanted anything. It had already been rooted through and looted by someone who got there before me. Everything was filthy, some things bore brushstroke dates, and many of the objects were a puzzle as to use, but their association with each other convinced me that everything was Edo or older. The owner eventually put it into the dealers' auction, but I managed to rescue a few bits first, including a ripped spear cover with Mon, some indigo dyed string bags which Sasama describes as Koshi-bukuro and Kubi-bukuro, and a very old Triton Horagai with a pretty good timbre. One of the string bags is now a Horagai protector...

 

But what do you say when someone asks you for proof of age?

[Ford Hallam]

Piers

 

well I think this is the point. Real research and a clearer picture of history is dependant on evidence being tested or verified. Interpretation, naturally, will vary but the material we're referring to needs to have some credibility to begin with. If, for whatever reason, an artefact cannot be placed confidently in a particular historical time-frame or context it must be put to one side. If we don't do this we simply muddy the waters.

 

As to your question regarding age; like any other artefacts it has to be about context and supporting evidence from other sources that converge on a consensus. If we found, for example, a literary reference that could be reliably dated to the Edo period and that mentioned someone being prosecuted for having a tsuba with a cross on it we might then have the start of a case for accepting that such objects existed, if only one , in the Edo period.

[Bugyotsuji]

Personally I have no doubt that crosses were openly incorporated into (not only) tsuba before Hideyoshi's edicts restricting the practice of Christianity. Since religious symbols had always been used for their talismanic effect, it would be quite natural for people to switch their allegiance from Buddhist to Christian for a period of years after the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese. Christianity had became wildly popular, dangerously so.

 

Following the tightening of such bans and more serious persecution into the 1600s, my feeling is that only those with a death wish would flaunt such objects openly, up to and including the rebellion at Shimabara Castle in 1637 for example. Any tsuba from then on would have to be more neutral, or to have serious deniability, in which case we today will be no more successful in pronouncing judgement.

 

The question then would become, what age is this tsuba, and does it fit the known story?

 

https://www.pref.nagasaki.jp/s_isan/en/assets/005/