I need your help on that one

[Gilles]

Dear all,

 

I bought this tsuba a while ago. It has a nice bonji carved on it and I like it.

It was dated by the seller as end of Edo but I rather think that it is a modern one.

I am not a tsuba guy, I really don't know what to think about it and I need your help on this one.

[Rich S]

Nice tsuba. I uploaded a chart for Bonji in the "Translation Assistance" forum. Take a look there; maybe (?) of a little help.

Oops; I remembered how to copy from forum to forum

 

Rich

 

 

 

[Gilles]

Thank you Rich,

 

Could be FUDOMYOO with a little imagination...

[Gilles]

Any suggestions gentlemen ?

 

The surface seems to be hammered, am I right ????

[Bugyotsuji]

Ishimé-ji hammered ground. Sometimes the inner edges of the Hitsu-ana and the treatment of the mimi can tell you something about construction and age. The sharpness of the edges will help too. Is there any indication of use of seppa?

It does look very crisp. I well understand your concerns but unfortunately lack the ability to move this helpfully forwards.

Sometimes a tsuba will just be a comfortable object in hand and to the eye, but annoyingly with little added background story.

[Tanto54]

Dear Gilles,

 

Sorry, I've been hesitant to comment because I don't have good feelings about this one, but also I don't have any definitive proof of my feelings.  I would really need to see it in hand (or have better photos of the inside edges of the ana).  Confirming you instincts that this is modern, it appears modern cast/molded to me for the following reasons:  As Piers noted, the edges of all the ana are too crisp for any real age.  The tagane marks look artificial (not really used to fit to a sword).  The bottom of one tagane mark is smooth but the others look cast (see 1st photo - perhaps rust damage instead?).  The bonji is fudomyoo, but it looks cast instead of carved (while the rest of the tsuba is very "crisp" there are places where the bonji is not crisp and places where there is metal "above the ground" that would have been chiseled away if the bonji was carved instead of being cast - also can't be rust damage because the metal is "above the ground") - see 2nd photo.

 

 

[Gilles]

Dear Piers,

 

There is no sign of use of seppa. The inner edges of the Hitsu-ana were filed may be to mount it on a sword....

Dear George, I will try to make pictures of the inside edges of the ana. I agree, the tagane marks seem to have a decorative purpose. the tsuba was rusty and I used a deer antler to get rid of it.

 

Thank you for your opinion.

[Spartancrest]

I am always worried when I see tagane-ato around the nakago-ana and no movement of metal into the hole, the lack of any seppa 'shadow' can also be of concern except if the piece were for 'presentation' - but why would a presentation guard have tagane-ato?