Box of Tsuba contents

[Bugyotsuji]

A while back a friend sifted through his collection of tsuba and gave me some in a two-tray box. Whether they are good or bad I have no idea. Since then I have bought and added a few from various dealers and shops and now I have about twelve or fifteen of varying condition and quality.

 

If I do manage to get around to photographing and posting them, what is the best format? A sheet of plain paper as a background like the crow and heron tsuba I saw on here earlier? Any special lighting hints? If I just put them in rows with numbers alongside, would that be a good idea to elicit comments? Or should I do each one separately? With a ruler? It would be easy to write the sum total of my knowledge about each since it is never more than a word or two, at most!

 

The other day I posted one Wakizashi iron tsuba signed Jumyo in gold, but no-one said anything. My intuition tells me that from the thickness it is probably mid- to late-Edo and made by or attributed to the Jumyo school, but does everyone's silence mean there is something fishy about it?

[Bugyotsuji]

Box Level One

[Bugyotsuji]

Box Level Two

[Bugyotsuji]

Some others.

[Bugyotsuji]

A couple of the Ura

[Bugyotsuji]

Actually now that I have counted them, there are 21 altogether including the "Jumyo" that I posted somewhere on this site the other day! :lol:

[John A Stuart]

Hi Piers, I would like to have friends that gave me such a wonderful gift. Some of those pictured would be interesting to see one at a time with some higher rez pics. As to the 'Jumyo' tsuba you had posted with the lacquer mei, anyone could have applied the signature at any time, so really can't compare to other signatures esp. with it being squeezed, as you noted, to fit. However still falls within the tosho style, I think. John

[Bugyotsuji]

John, thanks for the follow-up on the Jumyo tsuba. What is the tosho style?

 

Which ones should I take closer up, do you think? How high a rez will this site accept, I wonder?

 

My mind plays over these tsuba and idly asks questions. For instance, with the Namban-tsuba, the flaming? fleur-de-lys? ball that the two dragons are playing with has the obvious first suggestion of Chinese influence, but it also seems to contain a possible secondary deniable significance of Kakuri Kirishitan (Hidden Christian). The object looks somehow like a Catholic sacred heart to me.

 

Tray Level One,

Row A He gave me 1,2 & 4. I bought No 3, the large Heian-jo.

Row B He gave me 1,2 & 4. I was given 3 by a different friend

 

Tray Level Two,

Row A He gave me 1,2,3 & 4

Middle one also

Row B He gave me 1,2 & 4. I bought 3, very rusted & needing TLC

 

4 Extras

Left & Right I bought from a proper shop.

The top Kachimushi dragonfly I bought from a friend.

The bottom Heian-jo kuruma wheel I bought from a dealer at an antique fair.

[John A Stuart]

Tosho tsuba are tsuba made by sword smiths originally. The style persisted and I'm not sure if late Edo pieces were not made by non sword smiths but in the style of. These later pieces showed a deterioration of iron quality. Fukurin seem common but may be later additions. Similar in that katchushi were made by armour makers. Kotosho were usually mumei while late Edojidai pieces are more often signed. Myself, I find namban tsuba contrived and busy and though there are many beautiful examples a plethora of low grade trinkets abound. The tsuba I find interesting in your bunch are the simpler ones. The tombo and tsuchime examples for instance. To post hi rez pics you need to use a photo hosting service like image shack. Go to, http://imageshack.us ,browse, host it, look for thumbnails for forums (1), press Ctrl + C, go to forum post and paste the link using Ctrl + V. This will provide a link in the post to a hi rez pic.

[Bugyotsuji]

John, I do have an image shack account. I'll play around whith that when I get some real time. I usually keep the camera on minimum density as most forums don't like heavy loads. Once I've changed the settings on the camera I wonder if I'll remember how to get back to min rez again, LOL.

 

Which one is the tsuchime tsuba? Is it the one with a surface that looks like it has been hammered?

 

PS The chap who let me have the Tombo tsuba told me that it is actually quite valuable.

[John A Stuart]

Yes, the mokko shaped one. John

[Bugyotsuji]

Yes, the mokko shaped one. John

 

OK, you're on. That's my next project: to get some close ups of those two!

 

The Tombo is about 7.8 x 8.2 cm

The Mokko is about 7.0 x 6.5 cm

[Bugyotsuji]

Tombo dragonfly first

[Bugyotsuji]

Mokko tsuchiji next...

[John A Stuart]

The tombo tsuba looks to be Mito or Aizushoami, I always find them hard to distinguish from each other, late Edo. The second one looks like a copy of a Kaneiye tsuba. I thought the backside was pitted at first glance, but noticed that it is in line. I don't think I've seen that before. John

[Bungo]

compare.............

 

http://www.esnips.com/web/tsuba?docsPage=3#files

p.s. you have a nice Daigoro tsuba too.

milt

[Bugyotsuji]

The tombo tsuba looks to be Mito or Aizushoami, I always find them hard to distinguish from each other, late Edo. The second one looks like a copy of a Kaneiye tsuba. I thought the backside was pitted at first glance, but noticed that it is in line. I don't think I've seen that before. John

 

That's great to know even that. It'll give me a lead and an incentive to study.

 

The second one was looking to me like a copy as the base metal material seemed to be shining through in places, especially the edges. This feeling grew stronger as I was photographing it. You have further confirmed my suspicions. I'm not sure what you mean by in line, but the back although covered in tiny puncture holes, looks as though it could have been forged this way from a mold/mould. You were able to spot the possible copy and even able to read the very unclear Mei of Kanaie... wow!

[Bugyotsuji]

compare.............

 

http://www.esnips.com/web/tsuba?docsPage=3#files

p.s. you have a nice Daigoro tsuba too.

milt

 

Yes, I can see what you mean. I wish I had a real one now!!!

 

Now my next task, milt, is to read up on Daigoro and find out which one you are talking about, and then hope that it's not another copy!

[Bungo]

"read up on Daigoro and find out which one you are talking about "

 

to the left of the Hieanjo " wheel " tsuba and the tonbo ( tail ) tsuba............

 

looks very good to me despite the shi%$#@ pics

 

milt

[Bugyotsuji]

"read up on Daigoro and find out which one you are talking about "

 

to the left of the Hieanjo " wheel " tsuba and the tonbo ( tail ) tsuba............

 

looks very good to me despite the shi%$#@ pics

 

milt

 

Erk, yes... I do take a lot of flak over my photography!

 

The one on the left I paid quite a bit for, but it came from a source that I generally trust. Relatively large in size. It is in such good condition that it cannot possibly be three or four hundred years old. Just for you milt, but more to assuage my own guilt at the krap-P pic, I will post a close-up when I get home tonight. :D

[Bugyotsuji]

Let's try these. The Tsuba is about 8.7 x 8.8 cm. The mimi is about 0.3 cm thick.

[Bugyotsuji]

Ok, that worked. Here is the Ura.

[Bugyotsuji]

Oh, and thanks to milt the flying ronin I found the 大五郎 Daigoro Kyo sukashi school and read up on them and now feel a lttle more educated... :D

 

There seems to be something written in there, but I still haven't been able to figure it out...

[Bugyotsuji]

Ok, I bought this a couple of years ago from a dealer from Tokushima in Shikoku, at a small antiques fair in Onomichi. It's a bit battered, but I like the size and feeling. The cloud design? zougan goes right round into the mimi; there is really only one section that looks like the original surface intact. The tsuba is 9.0 cm wide by 9.4 cm vertically. The mimi is about 0.3 cm thick. There are 24 petals in the kiku design. Can anyone tell me any more about it? Mumei. I may have got the ura above the omote?

[Mike]

Hello, Heianjo tsuba, early edo, or even earlier. Kiku sukashi. I have similar one, not much left of the zogan.

Mike

[Bugyotsuji]

Hi Mike. Yes, yours does look surprisingly similar, apart from the Hitsu ana. Same number of petals in the kiku too! Hmmm..... What are the dimensions of yours? Tachi?

 

When people say Heianjo, they generally think of Kyoto, right?

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, I found a wakizashi tsuba today and will add it to the box of tsuba once I've cloth-rubbed it a bit more.

So far I think it is ...

Edo, myoga

 

but that's the limit of my knowledge.

Iron, Mumei, thickness at mimi. 0.25, height & width 6.5 mm.

 

Edit. Talking to a couple of people and was told: "This kind of tsuba was made throughout Japan, so no, you will not be able to pin it down to one locality. It was a really tough job to file out that pattern by hand." Looking at these two photos again in the clarity of a new day, I can now distinguish the front and the back more easily. Two of the corner spaces are larger. I can fit my finger through them, so although there is a nice symmetry to the tusba, it is very slightly weighted.

 

Just had a deep :lol: thought. What does this tsuba tell us? This tsuba has left the forum members speechless. Perhaps the Japanese like/liked feeling speechless, whereas Westerners like to be triggered into talking. Or are we all the same fundamentally? Everyone likes a talking point?

[Bugyotsuji]

So much for that one, then. Today I purchased this tsuba. The reason I bought it? Having been to see the site of Hashiba's (Toyotomi Hideyoshi) brilliant 'Mizu-zeme' capture of the Western fortress of Takamatsu Castle, I was stunned by the actions of Shimizu Muneharu and the way he committed Seppuku. His Mitsu-domoe Mon suddenly came to mean something.

 

As to the tsuba itself, what do you think? The seppa-dai is quite large and thick, comparatively. 7 x 7.6 cm, 2.5mm at mimi, 4mm at seppa-dai.

[Bugyotsuji]

Can anyone tell me anything about the tsuba itself? How should I characterize it? Even about the one above it, if you've been holding back for some reason. For better or for worse!

 

(Besides the comment on the imposing quality of the seppa-dai, the dealer said 'Jidai ga sakanoboru' which sounded better to me than 'jidai ga sagaru'. My mate said he also has one, and they made quite a lot of Mitsudomoe sukashi tsuba. But that is all I know or believe about it, apart from the fact that it is obviously made of iron.)

[John A Stuart]

Hi Piers, I can't say much about this latest tsuba. Looks alright, curious about the iron though. What really made me post was, 'Jidai ga sakanoboru' . Does this mean the 'times of going back'?, as in 'retro' where old style is in fashion and copied? Otherwise this jidai is unknown to me. Thank you, John