Ko Kinko Tsuba With Mon

[dominnimod]

Good evening,

Last adquisition is this ko kinko yamagane tsuba stamped with two different mon, rescued from fleabay, haven't received yet.

Seems Azuchi–Momoyama period, shows lots of laquer remains, what seems to be a later added kozuka ana and a quite big nakago ana compared to its size, leaving to believe it may have been mounted as uchigatana.

Mon stamped on the guard are from the toyotomi clan and hachisuka clan.

 

My question is, could this crests be used to track its procedence and age?

I have read that family crests where kind of a big deal in the past, and was considered a offense to carry important crests that didn't belong to you.

I ask ,because if this is the case we can be certain that the owner was related in some way to both clan and this could be used to track its procedence, right?

Toyotomi clan lasted from 1584 to 1615.

Hachisuka clan ruled until 1871(abolition of the han system).

 

So the clue to guess the tsuba procedence would be to see what relationship existed between these those clans;

We know hachisuka established near kisu river, and we know that after serving the oda clan they served toyotomi hideyoshi, from whom they received tokushima domain at the beginning of the edo period, so having this in mind, and how toyotomi clan dissolved so close in the future,

could we say this tsuba was forged (1603-1615) and belonged to a samurai from tokushima domain?

Is this reasoning pausible, or simply there is no way to know on these pieces?

[Steve Waszak]

Hello Jose,

 

An intriguing tsuba.    I appreciate your approach and reasoning to try to pin down the time this guard may date to, but I wonder if it is based on a small error.  The Toyotomi paulownia crest (kiri mon) presents with a more complex grouping of blossoms than the usual kiri mon does.  We most often see a paulownia crest depicted with three groupings of blossoms -- a group of three, a group of five in the center, and another group of three.  This is how the kiri crest on your tsuba is rendered.  But the Toyotomi kiri mon presents with a group of five blossoms, then a group of seven blossoms in the center, and then another group of five.  The extra set of blossoms may be meant to suggest the resplendent magnificence of Hideyoshi.

 

So, if you are correct that there would have been much sensitivity in the period to how crests were depicted/presented as well as who was allowed to use crests and in what manner, I question whether your tsuba would have direct association with the Toyotomi.  However, the combination of crests we see on your tsuba is certainly interesting, and it does seem plausible that it points to clan connections/political associations of some sort.  It may even be the case, as you suggest, that the kiri mon here does point to Toyotomi, despite the "lesser" rendering of the blossoms in the crest.  In any event, I believe your placing of the tsuba in the later Momoyama Period is a good one.  The "scattered" presentation of the crests on the plate points to a Momoyama sensibility.  I have seen other Momoyama tsuba which feature crests in such a manner.  I've attached an image (third photo) of a tsuba that is supposed to have been used by Oda Nobunaga.  The motif is the Eiraku Tsuho coin famously associated with Nobunaga.  The way the coins are "randomly" placed on the surface reminds me a bit of the placement of the crests on your tsuba.

 

Also attached are a few images of a Nobuie tsuba from the Momoyama Period.  The motif here is also crests, including a kiri mon at the top on the omote, flanked on either side by chrysanthemum crests (kiku mon).  As the kiri mon is connected to the Toyotomi, the kiku mon is the crest of the imperial family.  These crests presented in this manner -- with the kiri mon at the top -- may be meant to point to Hideyoshi's de facto power in the 1590s, which is when this tsuba was made, I believe.  Nobuie was an Owari tsubako working for Oda Nobunaga at first; he may have then been employed by Hideyoshi after Oda's demise.  Both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi were Owari men. 

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[SteveM]

Also bear in mind that the paulownia crest is not an unusual crest, and that it has been used by many families in the past. I think the other crest on this is not the crest of the Hachisuka. Theirs is a manji in a circle, and this one is some sort of deformed manji in a diamond. Maybe manji ni hishi kuzushi, or some kind of sayagata manji. 

[dominnimod]

First time i saw this tsuba it remembered me to one i saw for sale here quite some time ago, momoyama aswell, cannot find the post but saved a pic as it caught my attention:

 

I see, true, it's not the toyotomi mon, did not notice the number of leaves, what a slip, this one is called maruni gosan giri

 

 

On the manjis theres just so many variations i don't know anymore, maybe something like the right one?

 

Quite the mistakes i made,

i think the crests must have had a meaning, as someone spent the time carving the stamps, so maybe to symbolize a wedding? of members of these two families? Infinite possibilities i guess, but certainly we may never know,

Many thanks

[mareo1912]

First time i saw this tsuba it remembered me to one i saw for sale here quite some time ago, momoyama aswell, cannot find the post but saved a pic as it caught my attention:

Captura.PNG

 

It's mine, a really nice piece. Texture like silk and interesting to see the stamping, PM if you want some more photos with some details.

[Steve Waszak]

Another intriguing aspect to the design of the motif is the placement of the two types of crest:  the "manji-bishi" mon are nearly all centered around the seppa-dai, while the kiri mon are placed along the perimeter of the face of the guard, essentially ringing the manji mon.  I have no idea whether this arrangement would mean anything for sure, but it seems rather likely to me that some sort of semiotic impact is intended here.  Others will probably have a much better idea than me...