Help tsuba school

[DanielM]

I am new on this forum and i have only few knowledge about Tosogu so I would be very pleased to receive some help in the translation of the signature on this tsuba and its school if possible.

I liked this Maru Bori Sukashi  tsuba of the horse and rider. It is a wakizashi tsuba in iron Maru gata 72 mm diam and 5 mm thickness at the sepia and 4mm at the rim. The seller mentionned samourai on horse...but this is  the famous chinese general « Zhang Fei » from the 3 kingdom tale…. I discovered an interesting Ukiyoe representing the same scene   « Zhang Fei with an hallucinated look..defending alone the passage of a bridge against a complete army…. »

The  mimi was slightly rusted but the plate itself doesnt seems to have suffered.. There are plenty of  thiny details...some are so fine that you have to use a magnification glass to appreciate...…such work I suppose is end EDO

Thank you in advance for any comments…..and happy new year to all of you.

I guess. Signature. Hiro +?+?

Daniel

[GrozaB]

I'm amature too, so I can't read the signature, but tsuba itself looks 100% Soten to me

[kyushukairu]

The tsuba is signed ‘made by Hiroshige’ (廣繁造). Unfortunately he is not listed in Sesko’s meikan. Perhaps someone with Wakayama’s book can check and see if he is included there. 
 

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

The three kingdoms story is enthralling - love this piece!

[DanielM]

Hello Kyle,

 

Many thanks for the translation of the signature..it is wonderfull...very kind of you Kyle.

 

I also thank Oleg for the possible school...i agree it looks Soten...but i am not convinced.

I am maybe wrong but i think Soten is generaly signed in the classic way (even if not made by Soten school) Soshu Hikone ju Soheishi...Soten…. Or it is not signed at all ..but not like just the name as here « Hiroshige zu »

Soten design is more stiff less fluid than this one..less balanced .Soten use very often nunomezogan...the iron surface of Soten tsuba is also generaly not so well finished…for ex the details in the bark of the tree...

So ..but again i am maybe wrong...i would prefer Aizu Shoami (who have done Soten style) or (Sukashi) Tetsugendo… if a member could comment this opinion ? Thanks in advance

 

Daniel

[SteveM]

Wakayama lists two Hiroshige artists using these same characters.

One is from Mito (real name of Aida), who sometimes also signed as Hiroshige using a different kanji for shige (廣茂). 

The other is a late Edo artist whose full art name is Seiunsai Hiroshige (青雲斎廣繁) who often used people in his motifs, so this may be the artist who did the work in this thread. 

[Curran]

21 hours ago, SteveM said:

Wakayama lists two Hiroshige artists using these same characters.

One is from Mito (real name of Aida), who sometimes also signed as Hiroshige using a different kanji for shige (廣茂). 

The other is a late Edo artist whose full art name is Seiunsai Hiroshige (青雲斎廣繁) who often used people in his motifs, so this may be the artist who did the work in this thread. 

 

Your reading has been impressive for a while.

I doubt I could have ever figured out that 繁 (shige).

 

Interesting tsuba, far away from the schools I know the most about. Decently executed, so Steve is probably right on his attribution to the Edo artist.

[SteveM]

Thanks to @kyushukairu for the reading, but I will happily take the compliment.

[DanielM]

Again many many thanks to SteveM and to Kyle....I am totally happy you could identify the maker and period of this tsuba...I will care for it....

all the best

Daniel

[Geraint]

Dear Daniel.

 

Glad someone on the NMB snagged that one, I think it's very well done, even more so when you regard the back of it, you can almost hear the hooves on the bridge planks!

 

Congratulations!

 

All the best.

[DanielM]

Thank you Geraint, i also realy love this piece. We realy feel the atmosphere in this tsuba. Such details in iron work...it is unbelievable...I think the most difficult for such work is to render the exact expression of the face..here ( in copper) it is very effective and i am astonished by very tiny details you nearly cannot see with naked eyes...just another exemple the head of the spear...a lion head….2 mm it has been done with a magnification glass i suppose...and tiny honzogan less than 0.5 mm… I join the photo of the other side ...for the pleasure….

Thank you to all of you who have help me….

Daniel

[Geraint]

Hi Daniel.

 

As I might have given away I had been keeping my eye on this tsba for some time and had come to a conclusion.  However far more learned students than I had come to different conclusions and so I assumed that I had been mistaken.  Tonight, while browsing NBTHK Journals I came across another tsuba which re awakened my thoughts and so....

 

My earlier conclusion was that the inscription on your tsuba was attributing the design to Hiroshige, so Hiroshige zu might translate as, 'to a design by Hiroshige'.  The example in NBTHK No. 47 is a tsuba by Ito Shoken after  design by Toba Sojo and uses the sme form as the inscription on yours.  No nearer an artist I'm afraid but worth knowing perhaps.  One is tempted to assume that this references the great Utagawa Hiroshige, compare here,https://collections.artsmia.org/art/62136/at-changban-bridge-utagawa-hiroshige 

 

Still love it!

 

All the best.