Tsuba long description

[Kurikata]

Hi ,

 

I have discovered my tsuba description into a Japanese booklet . Can someone translate it ?

 

Thank you

 

Bruno

[Nihonto Otaku]

Hello! Bruno,

 

If you also need the translation of the article, I will need a bigger and clearer picture of the text and will also need more time. And please circle the area you need translation for.

 

But If you mean the translation of 

 

大小鐔

＜大＞長州萩住　友久作

＜小＞友久

 

鐔

無銘

奈良

 

 

then here it is:

 

大 big 小 small 鐔 sword guard/tsuba

＜大＞長州 ChouShuu 萩 Hagi 住 live　友久 Tomohisa 作 made

＜小＞友久

 

鐔

無銘 unsigned

奈良 Nara

 

So,

 

A set of big and small sword guards (usually means for Katana and Wakizashi Daisho set sword mountings)

(Big) made by Tomohisa who lives in Hagi of Choushuu

(small) Tomohisa

 

Hagi of Choushuu is the primary city for the Mori clan during the Edo period. It locates in the modern Hagi city of Yamaguchi prefecture, which is around the very south of Japan's largest island, Honshuu.

 

Nara has always been Nara. The Nara city of Nara prefecture. It used to be the capital city of Japan before Kyoto became the capital.  

 

[Kurikata]

Thank you Al for your efforts . I appreciate your strong support. Nevertheless, I was referring to the tsuba with the god "Jurojin", reading a scroll. I have focused the text referring to it.

 

Thank you again

[MauroP]

鐔 無銘 奈良 - tsuba mumei Nara
寿老人図 素銅槌目地  長丸形 薄肉彫 毛彫 片切彫 - Jurōjin zu  suaka-tsuchime-ji   nagamaru-gata   usunikubori   kebori   katakiribori
金・赤銅象嵌色絵  耳・ 打返し - kin, shikudō zōgan iroe   mimi, uchikaeshi

[Nihonto Otaku]

鐔tsuba 無銘unsigned 奈良Nara

寿long lived 老人elder 図picture     But since 壽老人 usually refers to one of the Japanese blessing God for long life, using the direct Japanese pronunciation in English as a noun is good. So,  "a picture of Juroujin" for 寿老人図.

素銅槌目地 means the general material of the tsuba is Shakudo and the surface is hammered.   

長丸形 long circle shape

薄thin 肉 flesh/meat 彫carving/engraviation.    So 薄肉彫 means the engraviation/carving is thin.

毛hair 彫    I think this is referring to the engraviation of Juroujin's beard 

片切 half or sided cut 彫    I think this is the description of the general style/method of the engraviation of the long-lived elder picture.

金・赤銅象嵌色絵 means gold and shakudo (or golden colored shakudo) were inserted when the picture on the tsuba were made.

耳ear・ 打返しhammered back.    This is a description of the tsuba's rim. Please check this English webpage from Mr. Kojima, a very nice contemporary Japanese swordsmith http://www.ksky.ne.jp/~sumie99/Nobuchika.html for more information about this term.

 

無銘であるが奈良派あたりの作で、重さがあり、図柄．色合いともに好ましい鐔である。江戸後期。

Although this tsuba is unsigned, it is believed to be made by an craftsman from the Nara school. It is a tsuba with certain weight, picture design and tasteful color. Made during the end of Edo period.

(The long paragraph before this paragraph is a bit too long for my lazy brain to work. 😵 I am sorry. 😣)

 

縦七二．六㎜　vertical 72.6 mm

横六六．二㎜　horizontal 66.2 mm

厚さ四．九㎜　thickness 4.9 mm

 

七万五千円　So this tsuba has been valued for 75,000 Japanese yen in this article. 

 

 

 

[Kurikata]

Thank you so much Mauro and Al. I have learned a lot once again.....

[Surfson]

You are very lucky Bruno!  Usually sellers advertise the fact that their item was pictured in a book, as this generally adds value.  It must have been a thrill.  It has happened to me a few times over the years, and it is always a happy day.

[Kurikata]

Thank you Robert. I have discovered also a similar tsuba close to mine in the Naunton collection. But in this case it was signed when mine is mumei.

[MauroP]

Bruno,

Japanese tsuba artisans surely mastered their skills at an unbelievable level, so no surprise they were able to reproduce in small series wonderful pieces. So I've paid attention to make confrontation just between yose-tagane and sekigane that are supposed to be adaptations to a specific sword tang. My conclusions are that the tsuba reproduced in the booklet and the one in the Naunton collection catalog are the very same tsuba. Well, alternative explanation is far less favourable...

[Kurikata]

👏👏👏Thank you so much Mauro ! I interpreted Naunton collection description as "Signed by Joi" when it was just mentioned "Joi school" and I didn't even try to think that it was the same tsuba.... So now I have a double reference for my tsuba and you brought more value to it... Thank you again !

[SteveM]

Had some spare time to kill:

 

Copper tsuba with hammered pattern, slightly descending towards the rim, carved with an image of Jūrōjin with his whiskers and his elongated head, reading a sutra. Above his head we see a branch of a karamatsu pine, and on the reverse side there is a carving of the trunk of the pine. The sutra is unrolled, and a twisted pine branch extends below it, with bits of gold inlay here and there. and colored brass for Jūrōjin's hood. Encompassing the nakago-ana and the hitsu-ana, there is a deliberately executed blackish circular area made by hammer strikes, giving that area a texture of silk-crepe, but it is unknown what effect the artist was striving for. It could be the moon or an attempt to show Jūrōjin reading the sutra by moonlight. Jūrōjin as well as Fukurokujū are included among the Seven Lucky Gods, but they are almost one and the same, with cranes typically accompanying Fukurokujū, and deer accompanying Jūrōjin. However they are often interchanged and it can be difficult to differentiate between the two.

This tsuba is an unsigned work of the Nara school, weighty, with desirable design and coloration. Late Edo.

[Kurikata]

Steve , what to say ?

 

The only words which are coming in my mind:

 

どうもありがとうございます


Doumo arigatou gozaimasu