HIKONE v/s SOTEN attribution

[Ron STL]

Here is a shakudo sukashi tsuba, mumei, depicting the "seven sages in bamboo grove" theme. The quality is excellent with highly detailed zogan faces on each scholar. I recall showing this tsuba to John Yumoto many years ago soon after I acquired it. His comment was most likely it was made special for a patron which is why it was of shakudo, unsigned, as it is. A couple years ago I sent the tsuba for NBTHK shinsa. To my surprise it did not get Tokubetsu Hozon, possibly because it wasn't submitted (in error). My question today is about the attribution HIKONE as opposed to SOTEN. Is Hikone, "hinting" that it was made by the master tsuba-ko, opposed to a more general Soten school attribution? Does anyone have any fact-based opinion about this? I do realize that the NBTHK does have set ways about their attributions that can be understood (interpreted) more clearly, learned from experience. 

 

Your thought on this would be appreciated, as always. 

Ron STL

[Brian]

Wouldn't Hikone be more generalized than Soten? Hikone basically just referring to an area, style of tsuba, whereas Soten would narrow that to a school?
They may possibly be interchangeable. I see the terms being used randomly on a Google search. Hikone being part of ancient Ōmi Province and Soten the school therein.

[kyushukairu]

Is the attribution “Hikone bori” [彦根彫]? If so, this just refers to the style of production, much like “Heianjō zōgan” [平安城象嵌], rather than any particular school. The reason may be that the judges did not deem your tsuba to be from the Sōten school. Although Sesko includes Sōten in his Tōsō-Kinkō Schools, on account of them having produced some soft metal work, I’ve read elsewhere that any shakudo tsuba signed “Sōten” should be considered gimei. There were several other schools who produced “Hikone bori” tsuba, such as Aizu Shoami, and numerous Kyoto based artists, so perhaps the judges considered the tsuba to be produced by one of the latter, but without enough characteristics to attribute it to any specific artist or particular group. 

[MauroP]

In my records I count 6 mumei tsuba with Hikone attribution and just one reported as Sōten (and 7 more signed Sōten). So, if unsigned, the tsuba usually takes a paper with Hikone written in it.

[Ron STL]

Thanks for your comments and I'll go with this being a more general attribution resembling calls like Kyo-sukashi and others. This would kind of explain why it was not designated Tokubetsu Hozon. 

Ron STL

[Peter Bleed]

I agree with your comments, Ron, BUT this guard looks BETTER (IMHO) than a standard Soten - while using and presenting very Soten material - solder applied faces, classic sages motif, and blue/black finish. Can it be that this guard is TOO free and original to fit the "established categories"?

Peter