Why not Shoami?

[kissakai]

Often over looked by collectors but there are good examples for no money

They (I believe) are the most prolific tsuba makers so must have been doing something right

 

These are two from my collection and I'd love to see more gems

 

 

[Surfson]

Supposedly Akita Shoami from my collection

[Surfson]

Here's another.  

[Surfson]

And another - Akita Shoami

[Surfson]

This one is supposedly Awa Shoami

[Surfson]

Not a great photo, but my favorite Shoami in my collection.

[kissakai]

Hi Bob

Thanks for sharing but is it possible to keep to just Shoami rather that the 'other' Shoami like Iyo, Aizu Shoami etc

I think my favourite is your second Akita Shoami

 

 

Grev

 

[GRC]

Bob, I like your second example, the sukashi one with the thicker mimi 

 

By the way Grev, how sure are you that your second one, with the "Tosho-style", is actually a Shoami tsuba? Just curious, so I can spot others like it in the future.

I would have just lumped it in with the "Edo period Tosho-style revival" without having any extra info.

 

Also, that first one sure looks familiar... so I guess this is Shoami school then?

 

And, I suspect this one might be ko-shoami (not sure if that qualifies for what you're looking for though Grev):

  

[FlorianB]

Here’s one of mine, however I don’t know if “ko“.
Of smaller size, but I’m fond of the composition.

Florian

[roger dundas]

I hope you knowledgeable members above don't just dismiss my question as unworthy of a response ?

My question is about the tsuba maker's method here of construction- does he just take the iron plate and construct the design by cutting out using a saw and or drills and chisels, refining his work with files ? Sometimes welding into place other component parts ?

That would appear to me as the only way of doing it (other than casting) and if so their work is to be marvelled at for mine with their sometimes enigmatic and cryptic designs.

Roger j

[kissakai]

Hi Glen

I submitted it for papers in 2019 as I wasn't sure of the school and it was Shoami

[JohnTo]

Hi Grev,

I have several tsuba which I think might be Kyo-Shoami, etc (my and auction house attributions, so shaky), but as you want just Shoami I'll post this one as the artist just signed himself as Shoami Yoshishige.  I'm not quite sure what 'Shoami' actually means as a school as I gather that tsubako were distributed throughout Japan working in the 'Shoami' style.

 

 The tsuba has a crossed feather design with specks of gold and one hitsu-ana plugged with gold.  The tsuba is signed Shoami Yoshishige.  Crossed feathers (tigai taka no ha) was used in the mon of several clans including the Abe and Asano families (of the 47 ronin fame).  Usually the left feather is placed over the right, but it is documented that the Asano reversed this configuration.  Unfortunately it is not possible to determine the configuration used in this tsuba

Two tsuba artists, using the same kanji, are listed in the genealogies charts of Markus Sesko, the first is Yoshishige Gorosaku a student of Goto Takujo (second generation Kibei line, died 1637) and younger brother of shodai Kuninaga.  He was famous amongst Kasu engravers, lived around Kan’ei (1624-1644) and received a stipend of 50 koku of rice from the Kashu Lord.  The name Yoshishige seems to have been handed down to later generations.  The second is a pupil of Muneshige, 5^th generation of the Myochin school.  Of these two artists the latter is more likely as the Myochin tended to work with iron and the Goto with soft metals.  However, various branches of the Shoami School were widely distributed around Japan and this Yoshishige may have worked under a different name while working elsewhere.

 

Height: 8.1 cm; Width: 8.1 cm; Thickness: 0.4 cm

 

Best regards, John

[JohnTo]

Hi Bob, I should have added that I love your crane Shoami as a PS to my post.   I still have not got a crane, but I'm looking.

 

Best regards, John 

 

[GRC]

Thanks Grev 

That clears it up nicely.

 

I didn't know what school to place your first tsuba pic in either lol. My gut feeling was maybe later Owari, but that didn't quite "feel right".

Shoami seems perfectly reasonable.

 

Florian, I like the pattern of yours, and the one plugged hitsu is a really nice feature. I like that it has the "circle/starburst" chisel designs you see in ko-kinko tsuba. 

 

The main things I saw that made my pine needle one a "possibility" for "ko", were the melted yakite surface, and the seppa-dai shape that is slightly flattened at the top and bottom, rather than a more gradual oval.

I haven't ventured down the path of getting papers yet, but maybe one day...

 

John, that's an interesting backstory on yours. It's always fun digging up info like that.

 

 

[GRC]

Then there's all the chiseled woodgrain types like this one I've got:

Are these just "Shoami" or more specifically "Aizu-shoami"?

  

 

I like how they look like topographical maps 

[GRC]

In hindsight, these three are looking like the "small, medium, large" of this flower motif 

[GRC]

Roger, this is for you: 

 

WITH REGARDS TO CUTTING AND SAWING:

Early sukashi, including works from Higo and Akasaka were cut with chisels.

Here's a quick visual of an early sukashi (probably ko-shoami) where you can clearly see the stepped linear sections that make up the curved lines in this tsuba.

These were definitely cut by chisel.

 

More saw work was introduced during the Edo period to get some very fine sukashi lines.

 

Anyway, here's a fantastic article from Markus Sesko, where he shows an example of an Akasaka or Higo sukashi tsuba that was incomplete, likely due to a chiseling error during its production, where you can see all the rough chisel marks:

https://tsubakansho.com/2019/04/20/unfinished-business/ 

 

WITH REGARDS TO FORGE WELDING (not modern welding using electricity):

In brief, you use high heat, then hammer layered steels together such that they "fuse together" to become a solid piece.

This was done with varying degrees of: layering, forge welding, then folding it over itself, then forge welding again.

The more times it was folded, the thinner and finer the original layers would become.

Forge welding was very rarely used in "adding" things to a tsuba's design.

The only example I have seen is where a particular forge-weld joint called a "lap joint" is seen in the super thick mimi ring that was added onto a ko-katchushi style tsuba like this one.

You can see it at the 6 o'clock position.

 

I've also seen a few openwork pieces where some tsubako took some "liberties" in modifying or repairing an older tsuba by cutting in slots into the existing one-piece tsuba, and added new pieces of thin metal bars to make the needed modification and still fit into the design. Basically like an "inlay" of a sort.

 

Otherwise, SURFACE DECORATIONS are done using "inlays" and "overlays"... and there's lots of techniques for that, but I don't know too much about those.

But, I recommend you watch some of Ford's videos to see that in action 

 

[kissakai]

Papered Shoami

 

 

 

[PietroParis]

I have this cross(?) shaped, unsigned tsuba, papered Shoami:

 

 

It was discussed earlier in this thread.

[Kurikata]

My papered Akita Shoami

[GRC]

Bruno, that one's a beauty. 

I love the dark vs light Genji-mon on the front and back.

[MauroP]

Hi Grev,
you have submitted two nice tsuba, but their attribution to  Shōami school can't be surely granted (of couse nobody of us wants to challenge a NBTHK paper). Here below a tsuba papered as Kyō-sukashi with a design pattern similar to your no. 1.

Simply the Shōami school is hard to delimit...
Here my Shōami  tsuba (at least occording to a NBTHK kanteisho) which I like the best.

Bye

[roger dundas]

Thanks for taking the time Glen/GRC. Jean/ROKUJURO also has been generous in the past and thank you both again.

I have had some student experience in repousse work, chaising and using a piercing saw plus hammering and shaping over a stake/form using gilding metal but iron work is foreign to me- a lot tougher.

Roger 

[kissakai]

Hi Mauro

With or without papers it will always be an opinion and signed with a verified example is nice

A question is reason for more research and I'm happy to hear these comments

 

[GRC]

Other than being differing opinions, could it also be possible that both attributions are correct?

 

Motifs were often "shared" or "borrowed" between schools. (No "copyright laws" yet )

And sometimes a tsubako from one school would move to a new area and join a different school, bringing influences from the previous school with them.

 

Just throwing those thoughts into the mix...

[MauroP]

Hi Glen,

completely agree. So why not to find a way to express in a kanteisho the unavoidable degree of uncertainty in attribution?

[FlorianB]

Gentlemen,

please don’t forget that the motif (indeed often shared by different workshops) isn’t in many cases a decisive factor for attribution.
Here we are comparing pictures (even of good quality), but it’s completely different to have those pieces in hand and compare the steel/iron, the colour and other details.

 

Best,
Florian

[DAY]

Unsigned papered Shoami done in 2006.  Buy what you enjoy, enjoy what you buy.

David