There are no fake tsuba !

[Spartancrest]

This links into the thread started by Grev. Cooke ' Tsuba gimei ' 

An article from my yet to be released new book 'Additional Early Articles For Tsuba Study' sheds some light on the practise of  'Meeting Demand'

 

-CANTOR LECTURES ON Japanese ART INDUSTRIES BY ERNEST HART, D.C.L. Delivered May 20 and 27, 1895. London

 

EXTRACT:  "I regret to say that a very large part of the ingenuity of the most accomplished Japanese art workers in metal and in lacquer is devoted to the reproduction of clever forgeries. When I was in Japan I went to the shop of a very distinguished dealer. He showed me many hundreds of objects, and out of these he guaranteed four hundred to be genuine, and gave a written certificate to this effect. After casually looking the things over, I had them sent to the hotel where I was staying for further examination. I had then a good look at them, and found the result so unsatisfactory, that I sent for two of the greatest experts in the town, with the result that we found only five of the pieces were really genuine. While in Japan we had the advantage of the services of the Governor's secretary, so I arranged that this gentleman should come and meet the dealer and hear what explanation he had to offer, which was very long. We then asked him how it was he had certified that some 400 of the objects were authentic of which only five were genuine ; we pointed out that either he had been going on selling forgeries for years, or else he did not know his business. He replied with characteristic Japanese courtesy that he was much obliged for the information we had given him, and finally made the following concise and comprehensive apology :—“Old objects very few, buyers very many, my eyesight very bad." I communicated with the Minister of the Interior and suggested that it should be made an offence to forge well-known names on curios, but it was explained to me that in Japan there was no such thing as forgery, as a man may use what name he likes. It is however an offence to copy a seal, but that is only an offence against the living and not against the dead." 

 

I don't doubt that the laws of Japan have changed since 1895, but at the time of their manufacture the law clearly states that no forgeries were made - in fact it was impossible, unless the original creator was still alive. So all those old fakes you may have hidden in the back of your collection are valid - it doesn't make them of value however.

[ChrisW]

Certainly an interesting way a culture can perceive things so different from our own way of thinking.

[Brian]

I'm assuming the only forgery they are talking about is gimei. The items were genuine tsuba etc...only the signatures were false.
Which shows how many gimei there were, if about 5 out of 400 were gimei. No wonder we question so many signatures.

[Bugyotsuji]

What kind of dealer would allow you to take 400 tsuba back to your hotel? Could the collector not judge any of 400 tsuba himself? It sounds very high-handed. The language the 'very distinguished' dealer is alleged to have used sounds more Chinese pidgin than Japanese. Something lost in translation? Perhaps the two 'experts' could only be really sure about five of them. (?) There is much in this story that does not add up, despite a measure of truth running through it.

[Spartancrest]

I am just the messenger relating a statement from 1895, an unfortunate cultural bias was evident at that time and certainly comes through in the dialogue.  [not shared by me] I have other references to the production of 'replica' tosogu to meet the European/American demand, which was rife at the end of the Nineteenth and begining of the Twentieth Century.(One thing lacking is exactly who and where they were made.) The extract goes on to blame those wanting these 'Otherwise useless objects' ie. The West, and suggests an alternative.

 

"If we are to assist the bronze artists of Japan we need to send to them the patterns and shapes of the objects that we want made and explain the uses to which we wish to put them."

 

So in other words give the Japanese artists something worthy of manufacture and of equal demand levels.

 

There is one more unsettling aspect to the thousands/millions? of 'replica' tosogu - most are now well over 100 years old and that makes them also legitimate 'Antiques' but as I said earlier doesn't make them valuable.

[Brian]

I think maybe Piers missed the part where this is from 1895. During that time, trade with buyers from the West must have been huge.