yamagane, suaka

[John A Stuart]

Hi All, I thought I knew the difference once upon a time but am questioning myself now. Tell me if I'm right or not. The difference between yamagane and suaka is that yamagane is copper found in the raw metallic state and is used without smelting so that the natural impurities are part of its character, while suaka is copper smelted from ore. A funny aside, yamagane; is the kanji roots from mountain metal (gane) or mountain gold (kane) ? John

[Pete Klein]

Yama gane 山銅 or 'mountain copper', some call this 'kawari gane' 変金 (change/alter - gold), As implied by the Chinese ideographs, this is copper, just as it is mined from the mountain; i.e., raw mined copper presenting a darkish hue.

Suaka 素銅 (element copper) also called do or akigane, this is partially refined copper of reddish hue and was used fashionably after the Muromachi period.

(from 'Soken Kodogu Yogo' by Harvie, A.)

[John A Stuart]

Right on Pete. The thing of it is yamagane and suaka seem to look very similar when a good patina established. I think some fittings may be mislabeled because of this. That kin or kane character is interesting as to how it is used. Kinzoku being metal uses it, but hagane (steel) and kogane (gold) seem to use the character for gold as a short form for metal. Kogane, yellow metal is the term for gold rather than just kane, gold. All metals are gold so to speak. John

[Ford Hallam]

The explanation offered by Pete is pretty much spot on, IMO. Not much to add in that respect other than to say that the likelihood of being able to use a piece of found, native, impure copper is highly unlikely. I'd suggest that all such finds would have undergone some smelting prior to being worked to a usable state. The interpretation of the kanji, however, is in need of a little revision.

 

Yama-gane is usually written with the kanji for mountain ( yama ) and the kanji for metal (gane or kane; gold or metal, same kanji ) in the version you've posted Pete, the second kanji is that used for copper.

 

Do, or akagane ( not akigane ) is a common name for what we would recognise as regular copper ( aka means red.) If the material is only partially refined we must continue to call it "yama-gane" as it is still contains impurities. The slightest trace of impurity in the alloy will yield a colour very much to the brown side of the colour chart. A more red colour is a very accurate indication of the degree of purity of the metal.

 

Incidentally, the element that is responsible for the dark tone of impure copper ( yama-gane ) is arsenic. Traces of less than 0.5% are enough to ensure the characteristic post-patination colour of the metal. Lead and silver also play a part in the overall colour but it is As ( arsenic ) that is most characteristic both by it's presence and it's absence. Interestingly, Kano Natsuo developed a synthetic version of yama gane in the late 19th cent for use at the Tokyo School of Art that does not contain As. I've made this alloy and compared it with older, pre 1600 yama-gane and would suggest that the, original, natural, alloy has a peculiar black/grey cast to the overall colour. The synthetic copy has a far more pleasing brown tone with a hint of tan, I put this down to the absence of arsenic. I was also involved in a series of analysis' of yama-gane and early shakudo tsuba carried out at the British Museum by Susan La Niece, so I have a fairly reliable data base to work from in my assessments.

 

anyway, just my half tuppence worth,

 

regards to all, Ford

 

p.s just read your post John; In my opinion there is no mistaking yamagane for suaka, or vise versa. They are just too dissimilar in terms of colour. In general terms I'd go so far as to suggest that anything prior to 1600 is highly unlikely to be made of anything close to refined copper. The issue of the kanji is not that complicated either, kane/gane means both gold and metal. Not all metals are gold,at all. It depends on the context ( and time frame ), as does a lot of Japanese.

[John A Stuart]

Ah ha, so those yamagane tsuba I've seen that look like they've been alloyed with lead are in fact the true examples of yamagane. This means that the tsuba that are attributed as such but look like suaka, with the nice nut brown patinas are wrongly stated such. Clears up a question. The 'All metals are gold...' statement was sort of tongue in cheek, although true for metal poor countries. Thanks guys. John

[Ford Hallam]

so those yamagane tsuba I've seen that look like they've been alloyed with lead are in fact the true examples of yamagane. This means that the tsuba that are attributed as such but look like suaka, with the nice nut brown patinas are wrongly stated such.

 

well...it would be tricky to be absolute on this one but in general terms I'd say yes. Where it gets interesting is how the various minor components of alloys ( natural or artificial ) alter the patination colour. Often the changes in colour are not at all what one would expect.

 

Sorry if I came across as a bit of a pedant re; the

All metals are gold

comment, I should have recognised the fact you were obviously being flippant. Sometimes I forget to lighten up Sorry, again.

 

Regards, Ford