Rabbits

[Ken-Hawaii]

https://heictojpg.com/

[Kurikata]

Pictures have been changed . Thank you 

[Steve Waszak]

Rabbit menuki (ko-kinko?) on the aikuchi koshirae (17th century) for a Wakasa no kami Ujifusa tanto.

[Kurikata]

Hamano jumping rabbit

[MauroP]

On 1/8/2018 at 2:19 AM, MauroP said:

Here below 3 tsuba with hare/rabbit from my collection and 3 more ones found on the net, papered respectively as Aizu-Shōami, Inshū Suruga and signed Toshikage.

Bye, Mauro

How reliable is the Hamano call? Interested "pro domo mea"...

[Spartancrest]

Japanese but not tosogu, just something I got for my wife who loves rabbits.

[Kurikata]

24 minutes ago, MauroP said:

How reliable is the Hamano call? Interested "pro domo mea"...

Mauro it is only based on auction catalog description.

[MauroP]

"Nami usagi no zu" tsuba (some signed):

 

... and the only one papered as "Ōtani Jinnosuke saku"

 

[roger dundas]

One taken/exchanged from a katana I have.      83 x 75 x 4

Quite nice.

Roger j

[Spartancrest]

Walters Art Museum one by Tsuchiya Yasuchika (1670-1744)

[GRC]

What's the story behind the rabbit in the clouds pounding sweet rice to make "mochi" cakes?

This rabbit looks like he's got some ill intent...

 

reminds me of this...

 

[GRC]

This one is much less menacing 

[francois2605]

Tsuba on auction soon: https://drouot.com/fr/l/21673046-hirochika-a-fine-sentoku-tsuba

 

 

[Spartancrest]

 

But is it a Rabbit, Yoda or a Gremlin? 

[rematron]

 

12 minutes ago, Spartancrest said:

But is it a Rabbit, Yoda or a Gremlin? 

Yoda says: “Gremlin, it is. Feed it after midnight, do not.”

[rematron]

Because of the context, I believe that my ko-kinko tsuba is depicting a rabbit but when I look at it, I see a cross between a rabbit and a wolf cub howling  at the moon. 
 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Eaten the moon, possibly? 

 

Seriously, this could be the story of Kachi Kachi Yama where the rabbit (absent, but present under the convention of rusu-moyo) has tricked the tanuki raccoon dog into building a boat made of mud for the race, which has just washed away, leaving the tanuki howling at his misfortune. I have a Netsuke on this theme.

[Bazza]

Jeremy, I had one similar decades ago in copper/yamagane. Shoulda kept it!!  With that bushy tail I described it as "an over-endowed rabbit", but Robert Haynes suggested a fox.  Somewhere around I have a photo of it.  Memories...  

 

Thanks Piers san for explanation of 'hidden meaning'.  I have never heard of rusu-moyo in those words, so tickled Dr Google and found this, which is germane to our interest:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/hidden-meanings-david-ito/

 

BaZZa.

[Bugyotsuji]

Haha, nice link, Barry.

 

Strangely, it ties in with my private theory that the raccon dog stood for a bandit who was terrorizing the village, and the 'good' rabbit symbolizes the samurai who has been called by the villagers to banish evil-doers.

 

Yojimbo, Seven samurai, or magnificent seven territory?

[rematron]

Piers, thank you for the alternative theory! I just assumed it was ‘Inaba no Shirousagi’.  And the concept of rusu-moyo is something I hadn’t considered. I should look at Japanese art more conscious of that technique.
 

And thank you, Barry for that link. It’s a good explanation of the concept. Good stuff! I’d like to see a photo of your tsuba if you can find it. 
 

Once again I find myself wondering what  was in the mind of the artist. 

[Bugyotsuji]

Well, just consider it one candidate.   (I did think about the Inaba story too. The mouth is so unrabblitlike though). The Katchi katchi yama story is nowadays said to be cruel, bullying, etc., so various parts and the ending have been altered over the years.

 

In this probably Meiji Netsuke, the artist has made the two competing boats into one, and they are both in the raccoon dog's mud boat.

Photo follows below with luck... from Happy New Year 2023, but I've lost the original photos! Still searching. Maybe when I upgraded phones?

Ma

 

[Spartancrest]

 

Tsunami bunny - he doesn't know what is about to hit him!  https://www.jauce.com/auction/s1094541580

 

[Is that his whiskers or is he wearing a waxed moustache?] 

[Steves87]

Oh, I remember this thread! I finally have a guard to contribute towards it

[Spartancrest]

On 6/6/2023 at 11:52 AM, rematron said:

cross between a rabbit and a wolf cub howling  at the moon. 

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/c1094298955

 

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

In context with grape vines, Dale, that is surely meant to be a squirrel........... of sorts.

 

Did we not once have a debate here about the 'thing' it appears to have in its mouth?

[Spartancrest]

We sure did Piers - what fun!   I only dropped that tanto tsuba in as it looks like the same critter as on Jeremy's example.  It [whatever 'it' is!] gets around a lot, they sneak into everthing!

NBTHK have papered this first one as "Rabbit in the Waves" - see  https://varshavskycollection.com/collection/tsu-0282/  Personally I think they should study some wildlife images or get some new glasses!  

[Jussi Ekholm]

I think Varshavsky Collection has incorrect English translation of NBTHK theme attribution. 波に獣図鐔 - as stated by NBTHK, I believe would rather be waves and beast. I feel it is usually important to see the Japanese language text as there can often be errors in translations.

 

@rematron Does your tsuba have NBTHK papers. I believe I found the exact same one, notches at nakago-ana match etc. but the image from google goes to shady address, and the google image picture is very tiny. It was from Yahoo Auctions.

 

[rematron]

@Jussi Ekholm I did indeed get it off of yahoo auction and it does have NBTHK origami. 
 

I’m certainly interested in any extra insight. 
 

 

[Jussi Ekholm]

Unfortunately I am not too well versed in Japanese folklore and I was scratching my head with NBTHK theme - 竹生島図鐔 - Chikubushima. I tried to look into history of Chikubu island but couldn't find anything good. However there were other tsuba of same theme on Japanese dealer sites.

 

One of them mentioned old song/play Chikubushima, and there would be a part something freely translated in English that might go like - On the moonlight sea, rabbits run on the waves around the island. I believe the dealer explains that by lore when watching coming and going waves on the shore of Chikubu island in the moonlight, the reflection of the moon makes it look as if rabbits are running on the waves.

[SteveM]

That's close: In Japanese folklore, the patterns on the surface of the moon look like a rabbit making mochi rice cakes. The story of Chikubushima is when a noble of the court of Emperor Daigo travelled to the shrine of Benzaiten  on Chikubushima (an unpopulated island in Lake Biwa, near Kyoto). He asks an old fisherman and a maiden if he can borrow their boat to the island. They oblige and take him there. While travelling to the island the image of the rabbit on the moon was reflected in the waves. When they reach the island, he finds out that the old man is actually the dragon god of Lake Biwa, and the maiden is Benzaiten herself. 

This story comes from a Noh play. This idea of "rabbit reflected on waves" turned into a meme of its own, and is a popular design on Japanese crafts. I guess it is a story of good fortune, as well as of the beauty of the moon and Lake Biwa. I think many dealers would just label this as "rabbit and waves", and might miss the Chikubushima Noh play reference since it is slightly obscure nowadays. (I had to dig around to find an adequate explanation myself). 

 

https://www.the-noh.com/en/plays/data/program_027.html

 

https://www.iris-hermit.com/ranking/jpg/tikubusima.html

 

Edit: fixed a few mistakes.