Onin suemon zogan tsuba

[Japan2112]

Hi all,

Just acquired  this Onin suemon zogan tsuba. 83mm round x 3 mm thick with kuro nuri remaining and no inlay loss.

Unsure of the motif and its meaning - a gourd, rope (in a gourd tangle), and staff?  You will notice a few areas of an array of 3 ten zogan, so a combination of suemon and ten - does that influence the dating of this one - it looks old. Also, the kuro nuri seems evident on the omote and not the ura. Was that what was done - lacquer the omote only?

 

Thanks for looking and your opinions.

 

Mark C.

[Surfson]

Mark, how do you call Onin vs Heianjo?  The small number of little dots of inlay?

[Japan2112]

I think it appears more archaic than Heianjo, and the mon sukashi seems more "Onin "in its style. And, of course, the ten (dots) zogan. I think late Muromachi. 

 

[Babu]

Is it at all possible that the kozuka ana is a later addition? 

[Japan2112]

Possible, although the sukashi walls look as old as those of the hitsu ana. I am not expert in this.

[Babu]

Ah I'm only making an assumption based on the fact that all visible voids/perforations in the tsuba have the brass rope going around their perimeters, but the kozuka ana which is also visible when mounted has not. The Nakago ana of course is under two seppa and cannot be seen so could be forgiven. Long shot though. 

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Nice tsuba, Mark. None of my references or study have ever really explained the specific differences among Onin-Yoshiro-Heianjo.

 

Elliott's writeup, http://www.shibuiswords.com/heianjoshoami.htm  also tosses in Shoami & Kaga for early inlays. Helen Gunsaulus' 1923 treatise on Japanese sword mounts also addresses Fushimi & Tempo, & Gary Murtha's book goes into all three schools. But none of these really identifies jidai. So, Onin is as good a kantei as any.

 

 

[Japan2112]

Yes, I believe Onin. Not sure about the hitsu ana being original or not. It may just be, as the tsuba itself is not typical to what we see in Onin (other than some ten zogan and an archaic suemon zogan bordered sukashi) . It is very sparse not having inlay around the hitsu ana nor seppa dai. Anyone care to take a guess at the motif?