Yamakichibei Tsuba

[Spartancrest]

Glen - I bet the younger members are all looking to Google for an explanation of who is "Fozzie Bear"  - So last century! 

[GRC]

Long overdue... been too busy with work/life. Funny how those things get in the way 

 

MOTIF 4 – Caterpillar or Caterpillar Pupa vs Partial Guruma (wagon wheel)

 

Partial wheels were commonly used in tsuba designs throughout the Momoyama and early Edo periods. The typical partial wagon wheel motif has rhombus-shaped cut-outs, with straight lines, that represent the negative spaces between the wheel spokes.

 

I noticed that some Yamakichibei motifs that first appear to be partial wheel motifs (and are almost always described as such), are actually distinctly more tapered than some of their other partial wheels. The ones that narrow or taper more towards the ends, always have more rounded off sukashi elements as the first and last cut-outs in the series. In some case these ending sukashi elements are actually full circles.

 

 

I believe that these are playing around with the more common “wheel” motif but also layering in the sentiments conveyed by one of the stages of development of winged moth/butterfly development:

Egg – Caterpillar – Pupa (a silkworm pupa is surrounded by a silk Cocoon) – Moth/butterfly

 

 

I presume this would convey sentiments of growth and transition/change into some grander form, which would very aptly describe what was happening at the time, during the Momoyama period, when Japan was warring so that the final victor (Tokugawa Ieyasu) would achieve unity and dominion over the whole country. 

 

EXAMPLES:

1a-Left tsuba: Dragonfly (left sukashi) & Caterpillar pupa (right sukashi)

1b-Right tsuba: Abstracted partial Wheel motif (may also allude to 5 knuckles of a fist)

    

 

2a-Left tsuba: Either a very simplified dragonfly or a ribbit head with long ears on the left side, and a caterpillar or caterpillar pupa on the right side (but described a “guruma” when it was published) – Varshavsky Collection

Note the perfectly round sukashi element at the top right, which I believe to be the head of a caterpillar or caterpillar pupa.

As a side note of interest, dragonflies do hunt caterpillars, so this would make sense as a pairing of motifs. I'm not sure how a rabbit would fit into the pairing, but the single round hole with two long "teardrops" is usually described by most as being a rabbit's head.

2b-Right tsuba: Mushroom (left sukashi) & Partial Wheel (right sukashi). From Tsuba Kanshoki by Torigoye, 1975

           

3a-Left tsuba: Caterpillar pupa

3b-Right tsuba: Partial Wheel

 

4- silkworm and cocoon: 

Here's one that I believe makes a clear connection to silkworms.

The image is from Nakamura's "elephant book". Interestingly, Nakamura describes the motif as namako (sea cucumber), which seems plausible at first, but this label doesn't address the oval sukashi at the top left, nor does it address the distinctly rounded "head-shaped" area at the top of what is supposed to be the sea-cucumber.

I would suggest that this is far more likely to be a silkworm on the right (head up, legs facing left, and the little holes beneath it are holes it chewed into a leaf), and a silk cocoon at the top left. 

 

 

What fascinates me is how it appears as though the Yamakichibei smiths were subtly playing around with their sukashi elements to potentially convey multiple messages and sentiments by "blurring the lines" with their representations and abstractions. Case in point, the silkworm sukashi shown above is very similar, yet clearly distinct, from the Yamakichibei sukashi variants that are more clearly nata hatchets, while others appear to more likely represent a mythical suhama bay/inlet motif (as others have discussed earlier in this thread).      

[rematron]

Wonderful, continued research and thoughts, Glen.  Very interesting and good reading.  Thank you.

[Brian]

Another fine and well researched article Glen, thanks for sharing with us.

[rematron]

This one looks promising. Fun auction to watch anyways…

 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/f1111866630

 

 

[Steve Waszak]

Gimei, low-quality copy, I'm afraid.  Not even close to genuine.  Just goes to show the value of these green papers.  

[rematron]

Thanks for the confirmation, Steve.  I know sometimes the green papers are accurate but I'd never gamble with bidding on something like that not having your eye and knowledge. One of those situations when you have to ask yourself why a papered Yamakichibei is being auctioned off on yahoo...  I already have one gimei Yamakichibei (first tsuba purchase that I got in Kyoto before I knew anything at all) and I like that one just fine. Cheers.

[Steve Waszak]

No problem.  I actually have seen papered Yamakichibei (real ones) being auctioned on Yahoo, and have even won a few of these auctions myself.    But I have seen some pretty eyebrow-raising NBTHK attributions, so from my experience, papers do not guarantee an accurate call on some of these pieces.  I have also seen genuine early Yamakichibei guards without papers in these auctions, along with many, many gimei pieces, needless to say.  Unfortunately, it doesn't work to rely on papers to provide 100% accurate attributions on sword guards.  I've seen the same tsuba papered to two different makers/schools when it was submitted several years apart.  This isn't to cast aspersions at the NBTHK; it's simply to recognize that they are fallible, and so, we have to do our own homework on these things.