What Is The Motif For This Tsuba?

[lotus]

The first example is from an expired listing on Ebay, think the description stated Arabesque which I am struggling to see.

 

The second Tsuba shares the double curved prongs(?) though, in the first they curve outward and in the second they curve inward. My assumption is they have similar meaning but maybe that is a stretch.

[lotus]

Another similar one...

 

Desciption : Animal, insect, pine tree and maple leaves design

 

I assume they are speaking of the inlay versus the sukashi which is what my question is about!

[TETSUGENDO]

Patrick,

 

The sukashi represents the Sacred Fungus (Jui, Reishi, Zhi, Ling Zhi, etc.,etc.) a symbol of long life/immortality.  It is a motif used throughout Asian art, notably as the design of the head of the Ruyi sceptre.

[lotus]

Ahh, very nice!

 

Thanks Steven.

[FlorianB]

Just to clarify the motif of the second  Tsuba, which has nothing to do with the mentioned mushrooms:

Here You see warabite (fern sprouts) and myoga (ginger), a combination commonly found on sukashi Tsuba.

Florian

[lotus]

Floria -

 

Yeah, thanks.. I had mistakenly thought they were the same.

 

Pat

[TETSUGENDO]

Pat,

 

Sorry if you were confused.....but it should be apparent that the two designs are unrelated.

 

Cheers,

     -S-

[ROKUJURO]

Patrick,

design element of the first TSUBA is possibly KAN (TANSU drawer handles). 

HOAN.doc

[TETSUGENDO]

Jean,

 

Tsuba you pictured is a similar but different design, your design is of Warabite form.  BTW, traditional  Japanese wrought iron hardware comes in many designs including a fungus form.....it is a rather roundabout way of returning to the same place.

 

Cheers,

    -S-

[FlorianB]

Sometimes it becomes difficult to differentiate between the positive and negative sukashi because the empty space of a ji-sukashi gets an independent existence.
Was in such cases an optical illusion maybe intended...?

Florian

[lotus]

Found another one that is a bit of a head scratcher. If you look closely at the bottom of the tsuba, you will see what appears to be inlay that has been covered in, I would say something like lacquer. Some sort of floral inlay. The rim is tapered as well. 
 
Dimensions : 73 mm wide by 74 mm tall (3 mm @ rim, 4 mm at seppa dai)
 
My thoughts are it is a Heianjo or maybe even a Kaga due ti tapered edge. The really rough looking iron work might be explained by corrosion, I am thinking?? I failed to find another tsuba that looks like this one so my only explanation is corrosion and then someone putting lacquer over it. But looking forward to what y'all think...

 

Though now that I think of it, I suppose Shoami would be another possibility.

[FlorianB]

Because of the hitsu-ana I would guess Higo origin

 

Florian

[lotus]

Florian -

 

Great call, you nailed it! What threw me off was the "pillowed" rim as I had not seen that before. Check this out, attached pic is from nihontocraft and what a well taken care of Higo looks like.

 

Pat

[FlorianB]

The Higo guys produced great variety in design, materials and techniques, obviously the key to their success - and their large output.
Most textbooks show only smaller selections of their work, however Higo is a field of interest of its own.

Florian

[lotus]

Yeah, I could not find another school that did that sort of pillowing. It is a pretty cool effect.

[Pete Klein]

Heianjo Zogan

 

 

PS:  to study Higo these will be most helpful:  http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b521-kanshiro-nishigaki-hirata-%26-shimizu-hayashi-%26-kamiyoshi-3-books-ito

[lotus]

Pete -

 

Interesting. Both schools have the same design and very similar execution? Or is it that the one at nihontocraft is wrongly attributed?

 

http://www.nihontocraft.com/Higo_tsuba_22.htm

[FlorianB]

I wrote in one of Your other threads that tsubako reproduced not only the works of their predecessors but also adopted ideas from other schools. So we can see today many similar designs from different schools or crossovers.

Thats why in this board the question of origin appears frequently. Me too asked one or two times for help in attribution.

I my opinion the questioned Tsuba from Nihontocraft-page is a Higo piece because it has another aestehic expression as the Heianjo-zogan example. Some of the inlays are missing but maybe this was made intentionally to create a “used effect” or playing with a combination of inlay and kebori.

[lotus]

Yeah, with schools borrowing designs from other schools it certainly makes it challenging to come up with the correct attribution.

[FlorianB]

Challenging indeed! However, often there isn’t any definitive answer. At least You never get certainty but only a probability based on the opinions of experienced collectors.

So sometimes it’s a little bit disappointing when the outcome states „Owari with Kyo INFLUENCE“, „Owari OR Kanayama“, „Akasaka STYLE“  - or even the ubiquitous „Shoami“.

Florian