The Aesthetic Appreciation Of An Hayashi Tsuba

[Ford Hallam]

This is a short film I recently produced in which I examine the aesthetic and design qualities of a sukashi tsuba of the Hayashi school.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH95icXJS54

 

And if you'd like to see more like this as well as regular instructional films on classical technique, so that you can become a properly educated tosogu fancier , you might consider joining my Patreon subscription channel.

 

Enjoy

 

Ford

[lonely panet]

very educational clip, thankyou very much. 

[TETSUGENDO]

A very fine presentation.

 

-S-

[Steve Waszak]

Nicely done, Ford. 

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[DRDave]

Illuminating.  Thanks, Ford. 

[Ford Hallam]

Thank you Gents, I'm glad you enjoyed it and that you got something from it.

 

I'm working on an Ichijo kozuka at the moment. An interesting look at shibuichi and the effects of time.

[Higo-san]

Dear Ford,

 

a very nice video - however, I do not believe that this is a Hayashi Tohachi tsuba. The piece lacks the very typical koban-shaped seppa-dai which can be perfectly seen on the reference tsuba in Sasano‘s book. Secondly, the elongated hitsu-ana is very untypical for Hayashi tsuba and reminds me of Tosa Myochin or later Higo pieces (again, the reference piece in Sasano’s book shows more typical Tohachi hitsu-ana). Last but not least, I cannot see (or imagine) a typical Hayashi tsuchime on the piece in question. Your kantei seems to be based primarily on the design - however (and I am sure you are already well aware of this), the mere design can be misleading as Hayashi designs were copied by many other schools.

 

This is not meant as criticism but as a contribution to kantei.

 

Best,

 

Chris

[DirkO]

Hi Chris,

Being the owner (and obviously biased), I think this one's more for me - the Tohachi attribution is backed up by recent Hozon papers directly to Tohachi and when you examine it in hand, there's really little doubt that this is a correct attribution, albeit not an obvious one.

 

The seppadai, when you look at it straight down, is correct for Tohachi, I can easily find references with the same seppadai shape.
The hitsu-ana in this case are part of the rope design and can't really be taken into the equation - otherwise they're indeed a-typical.

And about copying designs - this exact design is also noted in the Kamiyoshi Tsuba Ehon, which makes it less likely to be a copy by another school, seeing those usually add their own take on a design. 

[Higo-san]

Hi Dirk,

 

thank you for the reply. A very interesting kantei and obviously the NBTHK shinsa‘s opinion is far more educated than mine.

 

BTW, I did not say that the design on your tsuba was not a design invented by the Hayashi school but rather that Hayashi designs were copied by other (including later Higo) schools which is proven by the fact that this very design appears in the Kamiyoshi Ehon.

 

Best,

 

Chris

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Chris

 

I'm glad you appreciated the film.

 

As the title suggests this was intended as an aesthetic appreciation first and foremost.

 

I have been mindful, however, as I've been developing these sorts of films, of the need to provide context and a little background history so that the objects can be better understood within their own time and social framework. Also, as I hope has been noted, I'm trying to provide the needed information for newcomers to the subject to more readily make sense of all of the minutea of detail we often take for granted.

 

In fact I did discuss the koban shape of the seppa dai as being one of those things we would note when making an attribution.

 

I did this not to prove the attribution though, merely to illustrate the sorts of detail we do look to when trying to judge who made a work.

 

What I'm saying is that my intention with my film is to help educate students of the subject in how to see and think about these objects. I was less concerned about showing how to identify a Hayashi tsuba than learning how to appreciate good design and workmanship.

 

 

Attribution will inevitably always be subjective to some degree and your own opinion is a perfectly reasonable response to any alternate opinion.

 

Regards

 

Ford

[Greg F]

Thank you Ford for helping to understand and appreciate the finer qualities of tsuba.

 

Regards

 

Greg

[lotus]

Thanks Ford, I learned a lot from this video. A great help to us less experienced collectors!

[Ford Hallam]

Thank you, Gentlemen

 

It always nice to hear that what one puts out is of use and appreciated.

[SAS]

I always appreciate the effort you put into educating about metal craft; I only wish more time and funds were available to take one of your courses!