Looking For Yagyu Tsuba Mimi Lines Photo

[Curran]

I had and seem to have lost a good photo of the lines running parallel along the mimi of many of the good Yagyu tsuba examples.

 

If anyone has a good photo of these lines, I would much appreciate if you can post a copy here or PM it to me.

 

 

[christianmalterre]

is your´s request grounded on one of the 36 "kasen" -"sansaku" ?

or one of the "go-ryugi" ????

 

Christian

 

i do send you a P.M!

[Curran]

Christian,

 

Thank you for the PM. I have now seen 4 excellent examples of that Bamboo design- each one slightly different.

 

Attached is a profile photo of a Norisuke. The filo dough type lines are faint, but visible.

On good Yagyu, they are a bit more pronounced but the space between lines more pronounced. I thought I had a comparison photo saved, but do not.

I seek a good side view photo of the lines that exist on earlier Yagyu examples.

[christianmalterre]

Curran,

 

it is ofthen to see these folds and leyers especially in younger ones, like those from the Norisuke group.

You but equally encounter pieces which don´t show folds at all! ( especially those in the earlier times, so the Kasen ones)

Many have ben produced by Kotetsu (the swordsmith) and Kotetsu "Bushu-ju" (the Tsubashi)....equally the Myochin were active in producing Tsuba for the Yagyu!

 

so these laminations are not forcefully to ben seen in all Yagyu-Tsuba!

 

attached one of mine i sold several years ago to a board member here...( with some luck ? he may contact you ?)

this is one of the latter ones....so here you can equally see a nice sand-surface,laminations and some tekkotsu....

a very beautiful work indeed!

 

Christian

[Curran]

Thanks Christian-

 

One of our quiet Brain Trust members sent me a link to Grey's site where he'd done a good job of photographing one of Skip's tsuba:

http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/holbrook-tsuba/h363-papered-yagyu-tsuba

 

The third photo is exactly what I was seeking.

Added bonus is that the Grey one also has the top bump that some writers like to discuss in their write-up. Thank you to you and our more stealthy board member for help on this one.

[sabi]

Glad someone else remembered that piece!  Came here to link it, I must have sifted through the Holbrook tsuba on Grey's site dozens of times when I was first getting into the hobby. When I saw your thread title I immediately thought of that tsuba. 

[christianmalterre]

You are always welcome Curran!

[Ford Hallam]

from the description of the linked to Yagyu tsuba; "...very high skill is necessary to leave these lines visible and not too open or closed."

 

I would have to disagree with this claim.

In fact it's not at all particularly complicated to forge wrought iron (which is what these things are made of) in a very regular and even layered way. In fact when I've made my own material I've had to go to extra lengths to distort the layers lest it end up looking too boring and regular.

 

As for revealing the actual layers that is merely a consequence of the oxidisation of the iron surface when it was last in the forge. Iron of varying compositions will oxidise at different rates thus revealing the sort of texture we see on this mimi once that oxide layer (fire scale) is removed by means of a mild acid pickle. This would all be done before the final patination processes.

 

I'm not making these observation simple to be argumentative though. I merely think that if a piece is going to be evaluated on the basis of visible workmanship then that workmanship should be correctly understood.

[Curran]

Ford-

   If my opinion matters at all, I concur.

I just wanted a good photo to explain to someone what is mentioned in some books. Grey's did the trick until I can find or take a better photo.