Any and all thoughts welcome.

[Geraint]

This tsuba has just joined the collection and I wondered if anyone would care to comment on it.  I have seen a similar design somewhere but having scoured the memory palace, well more of a memory ruin these days, I have failed to come up with it.

77mms x77mms, Uniform thickness of 6mms.

 

Thanks one and all.

 

All the best.

[Bugyotsuji]

Mmm 😋 yes, I like the offset nature of that, and with the Ogasawara Mon as a bonus.

[Spartancrest]

Well we know where it came from. https://www.samuraimuseum.jp/shop/product/antique-tsuba-for-samurai-sword-t-108/    

 

Another couple of triangle sukashi guards.

[Geraint]

Oh, well spotted Dale, thank you.  I'd never have come across that.  Needless to say that's not where it came from to me.

 

What do we think of the Shoami attribution?

 

All the best.

[Spartancrest]

I think it is more likely Akasaka or even Owari - both schools have similar design elements but still possible for another school to take on the design. Triangle sukashi guards are pretty few and far between so you were lucky to grab that one, delicate and functional at the same time. 

 

A few of these about but not the same quality as yours. Yagyu design.

 

[Geraint]

Thanks again Dale.

 

I had thought Akasaka but when it arrived there are quite a few tekottsu on the mimi and no sign of layers in the sukashi, a bit too large for Owari?  Perhaps Shoami it is then?

 

All the best.

[JohnTo]

Hi Geraint,

Very nice tsuba.  I'm particularly impressed with the boldness of the design in that the artist has only connected the body of the tsuba to the mimi at the three apexes of the triangle.  The diamonds and karigane are free floating and look rather fragile and easily broken off, unlike the examples from Dale.  But the tsuba is thick, 6 mm, so it does have strength and the free floating parts are OK.

The unusual design, roughly (hammer) finished mimi and tekkotsu would lead me to Owari.  They did make large tsuba and I believe that Yagyu was an offshoot (it does have Yagyu features)

Kanayama (usually smaller, but did make large tsuba) and Shoami (who made just about every genre through their numerous branches) would be secondary guesses. 

 

thanks for the post, best regards, John

[Geraint]

Dear John.

 

Thank you for your input on this one.  The more I look and fondle it the older it feels.  I'll do some more digging.

 

All the best.