Kabuto maru tsuba

[david kracek]

Hello I don't know if I'm writing to a good discussion, I'm new here I'd like to ask if anyone knows this signature. Thank you goodbye.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Please flip it 180 degrees.

[Bugyotsuji]

Ken, I usually simply unplug my PC and turn it upside down.

[david kracek]

turned, thank you, hopefully it can be deciphered

[Bugyotsuji]

Because of the difficulty with Kanji orientation here, I am thinking that it might not be a signature and wondering if the tsuba maker might not have used the original Mei he found inside the Kabuto? I think we can at least see the old character for Kuni\Koku 国, i.e. 國　perhaps, no?

 

For example, just to get the ball rolling, does anyone see 拍國 for example?

[david kracek]

thank you very much for your opinion, do you think it was common to remake a helmet for a tsuba? Regards David

[Geraint]

Dear David.

 

Certainly not common, there are numerous tsuba which are made in imitation of kabuto plates but this is the first I have ever seen of this form.  A nice thing to own.

 

All the best.

[david kracek]

thank you very much for your opinion, do you think it was common to remake a helmet for a tsuba? Regards David

[IanB]

David,  Remember that iron, even scraps, were valuable and if you could make a tsuba out of bits lying around, it uses them up. 

Piers, I agree with what you see but I also see shu 州 above. That would make sense if indeed the iron has been recycled from an old helmet. If the character above kuni 国 is indeed 拍 Hyo, Haku utsu it doesn't seem to make sense. However, it appears to be a pseudonym for 打 cho, da.

Ian Bottomley

[Bugyotsuji]

Ian, I agree it doesn't make much sense, and thanks for the extra thoughts. Do you think it is a place name rather than an individual Kabuto maker's Mei? Assuming that a Mei moves down away from the tehen, then are you suggesting that the original photo orientation was correct, and it somehow says 'struck/hammered in X country'?

[david kracek]

thank you all. I am not able to date tsuba I thought the signature would suggest, my estimate is 1550 to 1700 is it real?

David

[IanB]

Piers,  The only armour makers (as far as I know) who didn't use the top - down arrangement were the Bamen who signed horizontally just above the koshimaki. I tend to agree that the mei once adorned a helmet that  was broken up and the bits used to make the tsuba. The fact that each plate retains a suji suggests this as does the hole above the cho kanji that woulf have been for the agemaki no kan on the backplate.

Ian Bottomley. 

[Bugyotsuji]

It’s just a load of junk, David. I’ll send you my address so that you can get rid of it.

 

Seriously for a second. If this was put together from an old Kabuto I do not see why the original hachi would not be as old as you suggest. I like the idea of the snowflake design of the folded tehen rim covering. As to when this was made into a tsuba I have no idea, but the sekigané suggests that it does have some genuine usage and age to it. An unusual object!

[Bugyotsuji]

PS Where I considered 'Yuki', snowflake Mon above, it does look like it could be Ginkgo leaf design.