Fuji-san silhouette?

[Spartancrest]

I have had a strange shaped guard for some time, jagged top and bottom in a repeated pattern. I later noticed a guard from the Sir Arthur H Church collection that had the same pattern with a protective ring over the edges. Today yet another with the same features has appeared for auction. Three very different guards but the same silhouette 'mountains'? I checked the Church example and found it is the exact size match for my guard? Different styles using the same design book perhaps?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MauroP]

Not shure if the same pattern is represented in the 2 Kanayama tsuba here below. Anyway the interpretation is far from staightforward, since the same pattern is described either as 桐紋 (kiri-mon - paulownia) or 杉 (sugi - Japanese cedar).

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Maybe instead of a 'hidden Christian' motif, could it be a 'hidden Hideyoshian' symbol, the 'kirimon' able to be explained away under the Tokugawa as 'sugi' or 'sanbon sugi'? 

[Spartancrest]

Mauro - you may be right about the similarity, there is one just listed almost the same as the ones you posted. https://www.jauce.com/auction/r477171399

the side design is lower than the ones above so it is a step further to have them even lower still, like the original post. I notice the small kogai -hitsu-ana is like your first image.

Evolution of a design.

[ROKUJURO]

Dale,

couldn't it be that you TSUBA once also had that MIMI/ring? It does not look so balanced with its small diameter and the large NAKAGO-ANA. I could easily imagine your TSUBA having a ring.

[Spartancrest]

Jean 

All things are possible, if it did have a ring or even a fukurin there is no evidence left, the sides are all the same patina and no file marks or chisel cuts. It's size is not small really 87.4 mm x 64.3 mm and 4 mm thick. I was interested in what the jagged profile represents - the 'shoami' example does fit with a mountain theme rather than kiri-mon but why would it be symmetrical ?  All the other examples apart from the first post are not symmetrical top to bottom.

[ROKUJURO]

Dale,

without a related scale, I would not have guessed your TSUBA to be that large! Then it was probably made that way! But with its pointed protrusions it is at least unusual, I think.

The design looks like a mountain range to my eyes.

 

[Bazza]

Might it be a famous view???

 

BaZZa.

[Spartancrest]

Barry you may be right - except no one seems to know what the view is - locally famous? 'Three Sisters' comes to mind, famous in NSW but not so much elsewhere.  I am intrigued by my guard and others that I own, the sharp edges are not ideal for traditional Japanese clothing  [ yes I know the tsuka was positioned out from the body but they must have caught on things occasionally ]

[MauroP]

Little to add on the merit of this topic, but just to remark the relativity of our judgement. The tsuba here below got a kanteisho as ko-Shōami (I can't understand why).

[Professor Zhirinovsky]

[Spartancrest]

Now that is a good thought, how wonderful to base a tsuba on the hamon of the sword itself!  I wish I had the sword now!