TEIMEI TSUBA

[ROKUJURO]

I am looking for information concerning the different generations of TEIMEI TSUBA artists. I have three of these TSUBA with considerably different MEI. Is there a way to relate them to an approximate date?

 

Thank you in advance for your esteemed opinion!

[Teimei]

Hi Jean,

 

in my opinion the cruder the mei, the older the piece. Also older pieces tend to have a coarse or grainy plate (could also be considered as surface damage over time). There were 2-3 generations, working from 1650-1750.

 

regards,

[Teimei]

My examples:

3rd generation would be my guess, with a book theme and a very nice executed mei

 

both 1st or 2nd generation with quite worn mei

 

[Kurikata]

Plenty of Teimei tsuba exemple :

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Dang, looking at these photos, I had an unsigned Tsuba given to me which must have been Teimei. It was in a glass-fronted presentation box. I let it go without ever finding out… it looked very similar to Jean’s first and Florian’s last examples above.

 

[ROKUJURO]

Piers,

 

I have read that most TEIMEI TSUBA were signed. Do you have photos from yours?

[ROKUJURO]

Thank you Bruno,

 

I know this thread and had a conversation about it with Christian/HIGO-SAN. I had hoped for new input on the subject of TEIMEI,

[Bugyotsuji]

8 minutes ago, ROKUJURO said:

Piers,

 

I have read that most TEIMEI TSUBA were signed. Do you have photos from yours?

Just had a look back through my Tsuba photos but can’t find one Jean. 😢 

It was the design, the overall thickness, and the smoothness of the iron that struck me.

 

Oh hang on, maybe this one?

 

[ROKUJURO]

Piers,

 

that is a very nice one which you could have kept! Could well be TEIMEI, but with the not perfectly flat surface and smooth iron, it seems to have also a HIGO touch.

[Spartancrest]

Piers could your example be Suruga? The Kuchibeni would fit. An example here with scroll sukashi pattern so not too far away from your design. Just a guess.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

I have a friend who collects Bizen Suruga. I’ll ask him at the next sword meeting. Thanks.

[GRC]

Piers, Dale is correct , yours is more likely Inshu Suruga, or possibly Bushu Ito.

The distinct "kuchi-beni"-style sekigane is a dead giveaway, but other schools also adopted that sekigane style afterwards, like Bushu and Akao.

Ineterestingly, here's two Suruga tsuba that put their spin on the boat rudder motif that we also see in Teimei works:

  

 

The sukashi is too curvy and flower-like for Teimei. Teimei tends to do long smooth arcs or straight line geometrics, not undulating curves.

Here are some Teimei examples with curves (and note, none of them have kuchi-beni sekigane):

 

Here's one which I have in my Suruga files, but I can't be 100% certain on this one... 

 

Often though, the Suruga smiths like putting in really fine-line sukashi elements, like the super thin lines in the rudder tsuba above.  

So, another option is the Bushu Ito school which did these bold flower-like, large symmetrical sukashi:

 

Kunihiro from Bushu Ito did a lot of work like your tsuba, and he used kuchi-beni sekigane:

Here's another Bushu by Masamichi (at least that's what the description said):

 

Sorry for taking this thread off track Jean. 

At least the boat rudder examples tie in a bit.. sort of  

Unfortunately, I can't help you out with the chronology of the different Teimei signatures.

.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Jean, apologies from here too. Dale, Glen, further apologies. Sssshhhh….
I saw my Bizen Suruga collector friend and asked his opinion. He was busy curating an exhibition but took serious time to discuss the pros and cons of the photo I showed him. A lot to learn! 
Sadly it was only later on that I discovered that I had shown him the wrong photo, 🙄 duh, :headbang: the ‘drawer handles’ one in Dale’s post above (which he said were more likely ‘Kasa’ hats.) Please cross me off your list of friends.

[ROKUJURO]

Piers,

 

I am always enjoing the input I receive by this forum, and I don't mind a "look beyond my plate's rim" (German saying similar to 'thinking out of the box').

So there is no need for apologies - you are stll on the list!