Heianjo Tsuba or not ?

[Kurikata]

Can this tsuba with suaka inlays be from heianjo school ? Usually inlays are in yellow copper.... Your opinion please?

[lotus]

I would have said Onin myself. It is a really nice tsuba to my eyes.

[lotus]

This one was labelled Heinjo/Onin. Very similar to yours...

[ROKUJURO]

Usually HEIANJO inlays are brass/SHINCHU, but I have seen some TSUBA with a few copper inlays as well. This is the first for me that seems to have copper only. 

[Pete Klein]

This is papered Tokubetsu Hozon to 'Heianjo Zogan' which is the actual name for them:

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

It can be hard to distinguish Heianjo from Onin & Yoshiro, as their periods overlap. I have two tsuba with what look like copper, rather than brass. Yours is nice, Bruno.

[Yoshimichi]

Here is a good research article on these tsubas: http://varshavskycollection.com/onin-tsuba/

 

I just picked up this Fushimi-Yoshiro tsuba from an old collection. It looks to be in exceptional condition for something 400 plus years old, especially when these brass/copper inlaid tsubas tend to have a lot of missing inlaid metal typically. Your tsuba is nice, Bruno.

 

Regards,

Bill E. Sheehan (Yoshimichi)

 

 

[Ganko]

Very nice one.

[Peter Bleed]

This thread made me recall the discussion we had about the possibility (?) that many/most of these brass embellished guards that get called "Onin" or "Heian-jo" were actually repurposed "old" (ie Muromachi-era) iron guards that were - well - "embellished" by the addition of some brass elements. Those elements were solid brass. They were NOT, that is to say, "nunome-zogan." They could, however, be either "inlay" or "overlay". The coarsest of the overlay was the simple encrusting of small bits of brass. This used to be call "Gomoku-zogan." Alternatively, the brass could be soldered on more artfully.

In any case, IMHO, the brass on these tsubas is a LOT newer than then iron.

In this view, the whole brass embellish thing can be considered as a style, a 'fad" that swept across the sword carrying population of the early/mid Edo period.

Peter

[Kurikata]

Hi Peter,

 

interesting views considering an old tsuba plate being redesigned some decades (century?) after to cope with the current taste. Does it mean that my tsuba was initially with a brass inlay which some decades after has been replaced by a suaka inlay ?

[Ford Hallam]

In my view the tsuba in the first post is a modern work.

 

The inlays and ryohitsu plugs are far too perfect in terms of surface texture. The iron shows absolutely no convincing signs of age or any tell tale signs of it being anything other then modern mild steel. the hammer marks around the nakago ana are an utterly unconvincing attempt to make it look like it been around a bit, totally at odds with the tidiness of the inlays for example. And the iron patina is super thin with no signs of any rust build up around the inlays. 

 

I think the inlay and plugs are all the same material, brass. I'd bet the zinc analysis would come back at around 37% 

[Ford Hallam]

“Since tradition decrees that brass was first imported from China in the Eikyō era (1429-1441), 

“Tsuba. An Aesthetic Study” by Kazutaro Torigoye and Robert E. Haynes

 

 

This claim has been a real bug bear for me for a few years now. Can anyone point to any sort of evidence for this 'tradition'?   

[Iekatsu]

Perhaps if you present your theory concerning Brass in pre-Edo Tsuba we can have an open discussion.

[Ford Hallam]

T. Sinclair

 

I've previously posted a large amount of information on the matter on this forum. I wouldn't call it a theory however, merely a picture of the likely reality back then based on the evidence we can point to.

 

It'd be helpful though if those we are positing a pre-Edo use of brass in any substantial amount could provide some evidence and/or rationale to address, don't you think?

 

But if it's of any help here's a simplified presentation of what we can say with a reasonable degree of certainty.

 

Zinc was first 'discovered' in Japan in 1879 by a foreign geology and mining advisor John Milne. The first zinc extraction in Japan began in 1903.

 

Before the development of distillation technology that allowed for metallic zinc to be extracted from the basic ore (calamine) brass was made by a crude diffusion process whereby the crushed zinc ore was mixed with small pieces of copper and charcoal in a sealed jar and heated for a few hours at around 900 degrees centigrade.

 

This process was carried out as far back as 2500 years ago to produce the earliest brasses. The alloy thus produced is now referred to as cementation brass. 

 

The most noticeable feature of brasses made in this way is the lack of uniformity in terms of composition. There was no way to control or know how much zinc was getting into the alloy.

 

About 1000 years ago in Zawar, Northern India, the earliest zinc distillation process was developed.

 

For around 500 years Muslim traders operating out of Alexandria had an effective monopoly on trade of brass and brass objects exported out of Zawar.

 

The Portuguese, under Vasco de Gama, arrived on the West coast of India in 1498 and start their own trading operations.

 

There has been some speculation that Portuguese traders may have been involved in zinc export in the late 16th century but this cannot be established as a certainty with the limited documents that have so far been discovered.

 

Zawar, the India zinc production centre is 1300 km north of Goa, the Portuguese trading centre.

 

Zinc and brass production in Zawar begins to decline throughout the 16th century (1500's) and by the start of the 17th century India was importing zinc from China.

 

In China the cementation process had been in use for many hundreds of years but cementation brass objects were typically regarded as quite precious and the material reserved for ritual and religious use.

 

Zinc content is variable but it's generally accepted that the process deliver a maximum of around 22% zinc brass and only when the cementation process  is repeated 4 times, the so called 4 fire brass mentioned in Chinese texts.

 

Chinese coins, which some regard as the original source of brass in early iron guards did include zinc, no doubt derived from cementation brass, but also significant amounts of tin and lead. This type of alloy is more of a bronze and can’t be used to make wire.

 

Official trade with China came to a halt 1549.

 

The process of distilling metallic zinc from zinc ores in China developed in the Wanli period (1573 - 1620) of the Ming Dynasty.  This was by order of the government in response to the need to produce coinage and the need for accurate control of the alloying processes.

 

 

 

It has been demonstrated reasonably convincingly that by the 17th century Portuguese traders out of Macao and Chinese merchants in Canton where involved in exporting zinc to Japan.  By 1637 this trade involved more than 180 000kg of zinc a year.

 

Recent analysis work carried out at the V&A museum in London, of 43 Onin, Heianjo and Yoshiro tsuba revealed a remarkable degree of uniformity in terms of brass alloy composition and levels of zinc content averaging around 28%. This is very strong evidence of the use of metallic zinc in making the brass alloy.  It's probably worth noting here that with each melting of brass and indeed the initial making of the alloy between 15 to 20% of the zinc vaporises and is lost. 

 

The copper content of this brass is also shown to be especially pure for pre-modern copper, essentially only a trace, around 0.35%, of lead,  indicating a probable Japanese origin. Japanese copper was renowned in Europe as being the finest available in the pre-industrial world.

[Iekatsu]

Hello Ford,

 

Thank you for summarizing the key points, do you know where the analysis carried out by V&A museum is published?

 

Thomas

[Ford Hallam]

As for the notion that Onin guards were made in that period, in Kyoto, I think this description of the harsh reality makes it unlikely.

 

 

During the decade long Onin War (1467 - 1477), eastern and western camps of alliances vying for control of the country fought a ferocious campaign of urban warfare that ravaged the city of Kyoto with fire, looting, and wholesale slaughter and rape. By the end of the first year of conflict the northern half of the city lay in complete ruin. Commerce had ceased and large numbers of the population had fled to the countryside seeking safety and food. Those who remained built walls around their trapped communities in a desperate attempt to protect themselves from the marauding armies. By 1477, after 4 years of stalemate and both army’s commanders dead the fighters withdrew and went home, leaving Kyoto a “burned-out shell of it’s former self.”

Ref: Japan to 1600, A Social and Economic History. William Wayne Farris.2009.

 

 

 

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Thomas, the analysis work was done by myself using XRF.

 

The V&A has a large body of examples from a variety of sources and donations so they provide a good sampling. I tested the lot and was quite surprised at the uniformity. Taking into account the zinc loss on melting I mentioned the data is remarkably consistent in suggesting a starting alloy of 2 thirds copper and 1 third zinc. And that's a standard alloy composition that was prescribed in China for official use once metallic zinc supplies were established.

 

It will all be published very soon, before Christmas.

[Iekatsu]

I think it is pretty well established that the naming conventions for Tsuba are often dubious at best and modern categorization at worse.

 

I look forward to seeing the results of your study, if I can ask what was the lowest concentration of zinc recorded from the samples?

 

Also how did you set about determining the age of the items in the selected sample? I think this is a fair question given the large number of so called Onin, Heianjo and Yoshiro that were quite likely produced in the Edo period.

 

Thomas

[Ford Hallam]

Thomas, there were a couple of low results but it was inevitably always by a factor or two of the 15-20% zinc loss suggesting remelting of scrap pieces, which is standard practice. I'd have to trawl though the data tables to find them...

 

And I didn't determine that ages in the first place at all. I simply assed the analytical data and tried to see what it suggested in relation to the other evidence and historical facts I was able to amass, as outlined in my earlier post. 

 

I've applied the same research method to all of the metals and alloys used in pre-modern Japan.  

[Iekatsu]

Ford, thanks for answering all my queries.

 

To add to your extensive list:

 

The Chinese were capable of smelting zinc in the middle late period of the Ming Dynasty. There are serval zinc smelting sites in Linjiangerdui that have been discovered, the earliest dates around 1410-1445AD, these sites are quite large, suggesting a reasonable industry/demand.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/298424496_Preliminary_study_on_zinc_smelting_relics_from_the_Linjiangerdui_site_in_Zhongxian_County_Chongqing_City_southwest_China

 

In "Metallurgical Analysis of Chinese coins at the British museum" we can see the composition of Chinese coins spanning various dynasties, from No. 451 (1503-5) we see a distinct increase in the percentage of zinc in the coins and a decrease in lead and tin. Chinese coins are well established as a trade good with Japan during this period, the Ming Dynasty preferring silver and paper currency.

https://www.britishmuseum.org/pdf/RP%20152%20Metall%20Analysis%20Chinese%20coins-Prelims-Appendix.pdf

 

While official trade with china did cease around 1549, there was still a rich tapestry of unofficial trade in the period, that far outweighed the official trade missions.
(recommended reading https://www.amazon.com/Across-Perilous-Sea-Sixteenth-Centuries/dp/1933947330)
 

As you are aware, In 2015 a sword fitting casting workshop was unearthed in Yanagimachi, Nara, during the excavation they discovered evidence of brass casting, traces of zinc being found in crucibles, the site dates to the early Edo period.
https://markussesko.com/2016/01/20/cast-sword-fittings/
 

Thomas

[Ford Hallam]

Cheers Thomas, yes, been though it all. Interestingly the article Markus wrote tallies with my own conclusions, that brass production in Japan only started in the early 17th century.  Evidence of imported brass is absent and zinc imparts are only evidenced in the 1620's.

 

I treat Chinese archaeologists claims of zinc distillation earlier than the late Ming with caution where they contradict official period documents and records though. The thesis work by Zhou and a couple of others, runs to over 400 pages and is far more circumspect and detailed. With the earliest zinc distillation starting in northern India the Chinese were keen to discover the method for thie rown use. It appears that there was a lengthy period of less than efficient proto-distillation development before the Chinese eventually got a method worked out that did the job well enough to make it a seriously productive technology. The major spur for that technological breakthrough was the demand for metallic zinc in the Wanli period. Interestingly enough the Chinese method differs somewhat from that of the one used in Zawar.

 

 

And while there was indeed a vigorous unofficial maritime trade I can find no reference of any pre-Edo imports of either brass or zinc. Coins, as I mentioned, don't yield anything like the alloy we see in early brass inlay work.

 

As I wrote earlier, all I've tried to do is gather all the evidence and data I can and to form as reasonable and reliable a picture as I can, from which to build. I have deliberately avoided incorporating any unsubstantiated speculation or unverified 'tradition' because that what's muddied the story in the first place and made trying to make sense of what I could find so tricky. 

[Peter Bleed]

This has become a truly significant discussion. Thank you Ford!

Peter

[Kurikata]

Everyday there is something to learn. I didn't expect my "false" heianjo tsuba to generate such an interesting exchange of views.

[BIG]

And thank you Thomas and Bill !

 

Best

[lotus]

Bruno -

 

From a single picture, it can be difficult to determine whether a piece is fake or modern piece. I have seen many times on these very boards where subsequent pictures gave more evidence which steered opinions in a different direction. It certainly did not strike me as a modern piece at first glance. Is there rust on the inside walls of the ana?

[Kurikata]

Patrick, my additional pictures.... For sure the tsuba has been mounted on a sword....

[Peter Bleed]

cast iron???

Peter

[Ken-Hawaii]

Ford, I would be interested in your "educated guess" on what percentage of Heianjo tsuba are modern repros, rather than pre-Meiji.

[Ford Hallam]

Ken, I don't have any reason to suspect that Heianjo tsuba are faked in modern times any more than any other type. This is the first one I've had serious doubt about. I do think that most, if not all, brass inlay work on tsuba, was done post 1620's for the reasons I've offered.

 

The general picture I see is that once Japan was unified after Sekigahara and peace and stability was established and at this stage the warrior class are very concerned to set themselves up as much more than just the muscle for the military dictatorship. There's real move to embrace culture and to appear more refined. Add to this a 'flashy' new imported alloy from China, a reliable source of high culture in Edo period Japan, and perhaps a desire to revive and 'enhance' all those old and sombre looking sword guards that had seen hard campaigning.  And so creative entrepreneurial crafts people offered their ideas.

[Kurikata]

Twin tsuba but with brass: https://www.aoijapan.com/tsubamumei-heianjo-wheels/