Stout Ono or big oh no?

[Surfson]

Just picked this one up on Yahoo, so it's not in hand yet.  Whatever pattern recognition cells that I have in my brain were telling me that it might be an Ono school guard.  What I really like about it is its size (a whopping 93mm and 5.5mm thick) and it's apparent age.  The cross braces seem a little thin for Ono (although they are probably thicker than they appear since the tsuba is so large), so another school (if you call it that) might be the so called Kirishitan tsuba, or Christian, due to having what appears to be a cross.  I would love to hear any and all thoughts about attribution and age for this tsuba.  Sorry but the screen shot photos are large so I have to spread them out.  

[Surfson]

Here's another.  

[Steve Waszak]

Hi Bob,

 

Nice guard.  Due to its size alone I would tend to doubt Ohno.  I rarely see Ohno work larger than 7.5cm, and in fact, 7cm is more in keeping with what I usually see in tsuba attributed to Ohno.  This piece reminds me of the very first tsuba I ever bought, roughly a million years ago now (in tsuba collecting years), pictured below (photos taken from Jinsoo Kim's site), and attributed to Shoami.  There are differences, of course, in sugata and hitsuana shape, and the shape of the seppa-dai is markedly different, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were from the same "school."  The size of this one is 8.8cm x 5mm.  I think guards of this size are rather rare in the Edo Period, so I would place both of these in the pre-Edo years (16th century).  My best guess, anyway.

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

 

 

[Surfson]

Good to hear from you Steve, and thanks for the useful information.  Shoami is the school that baffles me most.  It is so heterogenous.  I did think that this one was quite old as well.  It's a little rustic too, as the vertical stanchion on the top seems to be slightly askew.  

[Surfson]

By the way, Fred Weissberg has a very attractive Ono on his site now.  It's 77mm

 

https://www.nihonto.com/1-4-20/

[Steve Waszak]

Hi Bob,

 

Yes, that's a nice one on Fred's site.  In my somewhat limited experience with Ohno, that's about as large as I see them (and this one is larger than most). 

 

Shoami does seem to be the "grab bag" of tsuba attribution all right...   That vertical stanchion would appear to be deliberately askew, which in my view adds much interest and more liveliness to the guard, not just for its resulting expression, but also in raising questions of the maker's intent.  A good, solid tsuba, Bob.  Well done. 

 

 

[b.hennick]

I think that these two are Ono. The upper one has bamboo-like frame, The lower one looks like a belt buckle... upper 6.5 cm lower 6.6 cm

[Surfson]

Nice, Barry.  I have a more traditional Ono like a cross between your top one and the one on Fred's site.   I'm getting closer to being able to unpack all my fittings from the move and I will take a photo of it when I run across it.   

[Spartancrest]

There is one on Jauce at the moment - https://www.jauce.com/auction/t779229469

Has seen better days but currently going very cheap - at least a thousand dollars cheaper!

[Curran]

10 hours ago, Surfson said:

By the way, Fred Weissberg has a very attractive Ono on his site now.  It's 77mm

 

https://www.nihonto.com/1-4-20/

 

Not Ono.   Crappy attribution by NBTHK. Sanmai construction on that one.

That one is Akasaka. Probably late 3rd generation or 4th generation work.

It was once mine, long ago. I've been tempted to buy it back, despite the chromosome deficient attribution by the NBTHK.

 

I'm very fond of Ono. This is Ono:   http://nihonto.us/ONO TSUBA CC.htm

Nothing else in this thread looks Ono.

 

 

[Steve Waszak]

Sanmai on that, Curran?  Ah, yes, well that right there certainly changes things.  Thanks for the good insight and education. 

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[Curran]

If it looks like a Yagyu (sandy Owari area iron) and a Kanayama (tekkotsu) had sex and produced offspring with varying degrees of yakite, then likely Ono.

 

Temple bell tsuba attached. In Nihonto Koza opening pages as Kanayama, but it had Ono papers when I owned it.

Tokugawa Ono has tekkotsu so large that it would damage the shock absorbers on your car.

 

[Steve, that Akasaka:  yes 2014 shinsa when things suddenly drove off a cliff and still haven't quite recovered].