Show us your nice gendai tsuba (and fittings and koshirae...)

[Toryu2020]

We have a thread for Gendai-to but not gendai fittings. I am sure there are some great pieces out there. I shall start us off with my latest acquisition, a daisho set of tsuba by the premier American swordmaker Keith Nobuhira Austin. Quite chuffed with this find as it fits nearly everything about my collecting and experience...

 

-t

[Grey Doffin]

I have this one on my site: https://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-%26-kodogu/q717-shinsaku-iron-tsuba#

If anyone knows the smith's name let me know please.

Gre4y

[kyushukairu]

Grey, I think the reading for your tsubako is ‘Toshimasa’ (寿雅), and the location is given as ‘Suruga kuni’ (駿河国)

[JohnTo]

Hi Thomas

I wasn’t going to post this Gendai tsuba as I had already done so under a different thread, but as you have only had one reply so far I thought maybe I should post it again.

This large copper tsuba is inscribed Morihira (Yanagawa Morihira, 1899-1971).  I don’t like to claim whether signatures on tsuba are genuine, so many fakes about, but the tsuba does appear to similar in style to other works by Morihira that have appeared at auction (https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/21101/lot/248/?category=list,  and Aoi Art, order number F21216), that is a copper tsuba decorated with gold and silver gilding, katakiri and kebori engraving, scratched gold kodzuka plugs and flower shaped tegane punch marks.

The shape of the tsuba may be best described as sumi-iri-kakagata (lit: notched in square). The front (omote) of the tsuba shows both a shishi and peonies, whereas the reverse (ura) only shows the shishi.  Interestingly, the shishi on the omote has a silver body and a golden mane and tail, whereas the combination of silver and gold is reversed on the ura.  The heads on both animals is copper. Shishi are often represented as playful creatures, but these two are muscular with a fearsome pose and the silver shishi has a head which looks rather like Hannya, the Japanese female demon.  The engraved peonies on the omote are coloured with silver and gold gilding and the petals are in a darker shade of silver.  The outlines are defined in katakiribori (half cut carving) and kebori (hair carving) and, particularly the silver, darkened to add extra tonality to the design.  The nakago ana has four 32(?)-petal chrysanthemum punch marks on each side, purely for decoration and the tsuba is signed on the lower right face of the ura Morihira.  There is also a single kozuka hitsu ana, filled with a gilt cat scratched plug.

Shishi are mythical guardian lions in both China and Japan and it is also the name given to a group of political activists (Ishin Shishi 維新志士) in the late Edo period who opposed the westernisation of Japan.  The peony is regarded as the king of flowers and in Japan symbolises bravery, honour and good fortune.  It is likely that this tsuba was made in the 1930’s when Japanese militarism was at its peak.  However, if this was the intention of Morihira then I think that he failed.  Instead of the shishi being fearsome macho guardians they appear rather camp (IMHO).  Possibly other potential buyers thought the same, which is why I was able to buy it cheaply in comparison to other Morihira tsuba that I have seen.

When this tsuba first came up for sale I had no interest in it and so it seems nor did anyone else as it was unsold.  Six months later it came up again and I wanted to buy something in remembrance of my nephew, Gary, who had died shortly before the sale.  Gary was very much an extrovert ‘in your face’ type of guy and I this tsuba reminds me very much of him.

Height: 8.75 cm, Width: 8.4 cm, Thickness (rim): 0.7 cm; Nakago: 0.4 cm, Weight: 254 g

Best regards, John

[Toryu2020]

Nice one John 

"

The term "Shishi Jinjin" (志士仁人) is derived from the phrase in the fifteenth chapter of the Analects of Confucius, "Eiringuo," which means "to kill oneself in order to do benevolent deeds.

Mostly, the term refers to those who led revolutionary movements with the idea of the Emperor and expulsion of the barbarians."

 

Foo Dogs on the other hand...

 

"Guardian lions are referred to in various ways depending on language and context. In Chinese they are traditionally called simply shi (Chinese: 獅; pinyin: shī) meaning lion—the word shi itself is thought to be derived from the Persian word šer.[2] Lions were first presented to the Han court by emissaries from Central Asia and Persia, and were already popularly depicted as guardian figures by the sixth century AD.[3] Today the guardian lions are more usually specified by reference to the medium or material, for example:

Stone lion (石獅; Shíshī): for a stone sculpture; or
Bronze lion (銅獅; Tóngshī): for a bronze sculpture.
and less commonly:

Auspicious lion (瑞獅; Ruìshī): referring to the Tibetan Snow Lion or good fortune"

 

Please call me Tom and please keep those tsuba coming...

 

-t

[Toryu2020]

Kusano Yoshiaki - Meiji period swordmaker

 

 

[Toryu2020]

Ford Hallam - kisseru and tokkuri my favorite subject and my favorite new bolo tie...

[Toryu2020]

Gendai copy of Katchushi tsuba - possibly Yoshihara school...

Edited August 24, 2022 by Toryu2020
I'm an idiot...

[GRC]

not mine, but happened to stumble across it online...

signed on the omote and dated on the ura side: TSUCHIYA TAKACHIKA, 1921 (I think the translation also said sometime "in the tenth month" of that year)

He was described as a 6th generation smith of the Tsuchiya school

 

[Toryu2020]

Nice!

[Baba Yaga]

23 minutes ago, GRC said:

not mine, but happened to stumble across it online...

signed on the omote and dated on the ura side: TSUCHIYA TAKACHIKA, 1921 (I think the translation also said sometime "in the tenth month" of that year)

He was described as a 6th generation smith of the Tsuchiya school

 

That's a very interesting date after WW1 ended. I'm not into war time, but that caught my eye. That's a keeper. 

[Kanenaga]

Gendai utsushi of a classic Higo design.  Maker is Naruki Issei, I think.

Perhaps someone could read the full mei and hakogaki for me?

 

[Toryu2020]

Noshu Sakamoto Ju Issei saku

 

Hakogaki - Tetsuji Sukashi Kawari-gata

Showa Kinoe Tora 49 11 gatsu hi

Noshu Sakamoto ju Issei

 

A terrific piece.

[Toryu2020]

Naruki Issei - tsuba for a bokken 

 

 

 

[Kanenaga]

Thanks for the translation, Tom. 

And congratulations on the Keith Austin Nobuhira daisho pair.  I never met him, but heard many stories. A real piece of history.

[Soshin]

On 8/25/2022 at 12:17 AM, Toryu2020 said:

Naruki Issei - tsuba for a bokken 

 

 

Thanks Tom and Les,

 

Some reason Naruki Issei name is "ringing a bell" in my mind.  Does anyone have other examples of Naruki Issei work? Did/does he primarily work in iron?  

[Toryu2020]

A prolific modern artist and one of the best. I believe Fukushi sensei did a write up on him and Markus translated...

 

-t

[GRC]

another issei: yatsuhashi motif utsushi

[Marius]

Manuel Coden's utsushi of a Muromachi tsuba. Excellent work!

 

 

[Toryu2020]

Mamori-gatana koshirae with possible Gassan school blade holding it together...

[Toryu2020]

Mamori-gatana koshirae with possible Gassan school tanto holding it together...

[Toryu2020]

[GRC]

Another really nice tsuba by Kazunari / Issei, made in 1982:

Signed with the pseudonym Enasan

[Ed]

Gendai Tsuba by Tamaoka Toshiyuki

 

[Ed]

Another by the sword smith Matsuyama Seiken.

 

[Spartancrest]

one of mine by Munenaga, Iwamoto school  - I think 8th generation?

[Toryu2020]

Ed - what are the kanji for Tomoaka? That first one appears to be signed Toshiyuki...

[Ed]

6 hours ago, Toryu2020 said:

Ed - what are the kanji for Tomoaka? That first one appears to be signed Toshiyuki...

Tom,

Sorry for the confusion, don't know what I was thinking this morning, must have been still half asleep.  I have corrected them.

The first one, yatsuhashi is Toshiyuki, Tamaoka Toshiyuki.

The second one, rake and pine needle, is by sword smith Matsuyama Seiken.

[Toryu2020]

Thank you - do you have more pictures of the Matsuyama tsuba?

[Ed]

On 8/15/2022 at 12:06 PM, Toryu2020 said:

We have a thread for Gendai-to but not gendai fittings. I am sure there are some great pieces out there. I shall start us off with my latest acquisition, a daisho set of tsuba by the premier American swordmaker Keith Nobuhira Austin. Quite chuffed with this find as it fits nearly everything about my collecting and experience...

 

-t

 

I am envious.