Research on the subject of a Chōshū Yaji school’s tsuba

[Manuel Coden]

Recently i made a research on the subject depicted on the following tsuba made by Yaji Tomoyuki (八道友之) that i currently own, since i thought it was quite interesting what i found i made an article about it.
Feel free to download it and i'd be happy to hear your thoughts about it.

 

Chōshū Yaji research.pdf

[Spartancrest]

A couple more you might be able to add to your list.

https://www.mandarinmansion.com/item/classic-choshu-ship-tsuba

https://japanesegallery.com/19th-century-iron-tsuba-sailing-ship

https://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/tsuba-%26-kodogu/k150-great-iron-tsuba-choshu-tomoyuki#

 

 

Edited September 1, 2022 by Spartancrest
new data

[Manuel Coden]

Thank you Dale, i actually know those but i deliberately excluded cause not signed.
Actually i have other signed examples but since the workmanship and subject are the same i thought no need to include those.

[Spartancrest]

 

A signed one from a Bonhams auction - https://www.bonhams.com/zh-hk/auction/25125/lot/15/an-iron-tsuba-by-yaji-tomoyuki-choshu-school-early-19th-century/ It sold very cheaply at £87.50 . Very similar to the signed one from Japaneseswordbookandtsuba [tagane-ato different]

 

Also a signed one - https://www.samuraimuseum.jp/shop/product/antique-tsuba-for-samurai-sword-t-124/

The translation says  八道 友清 (Hachidou Tomokiyo) (1688-1704) - could this be a miss reading of the mei?

 

[Manuel Coden]

I saw those as well, the Bonhams one someone made a great score.
The second one is badly corroded, last kanji is hardly readable so they made a guess i think, but to me should be the late Edo Tomohisa (same as the published one in my article)

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

Man that’s a nice Tsuba Manuel!

[Manuel Coden]

9 minutes ago, Infinite_Wisdumb said:

Man that’s a nice Tsuba Manuel!

Indeed it is, in hand is even better cause you can appreciate the precision and depth of the engraving even more

[vajo]

Beautifull tsuba Manuel.

Very good condition and a lot of details.

The best one of these motif  i see so far.

[Manuel Coden]

Thank you, i read somewhere these are quite prone to corrosion, so it's always good to find a well preserved one

[Spartancrest]

Hi Manuel have you seen this? https://www.jauce.com/auction/q1062696566

 

 

Also see https://www.jauce.com/auction/h1062683610

[Manuel Coden]

Yes, there's another one as well from same school but both have some corrosion problem unfortunately.

Seems that saying about corrosion is real

[Spartancrest]

Ships and the sea - you would expect a bit of corrosion.  I wonder if there are any in soft metal? Or exclusively made in iron?

[Manuel Coden]

Maybe they were shipped to Osaka freshly made and got damaged in the trip 

Seems that school only worked on iron 

[Spartancrest]

Mauel, there is a 'daisho' in great condition here- https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1061687572

But would two different ships make up a daisho? Suppose so they are signed by the same maker.

[Manuel Coden]

It was up for sale before, it's in good conditions and from the same maker, hard to tell if was born as daisho but it's a nice set nonetheless 

[SalaMarcos]

Dear Manuel, 

I already posted about my tsuba that's identical to yours. By the way, congratulations for your research! 

 

[Manuel Coden]

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed my article and tsuba, you have a fine example as well

[DoTanuki yokai]

On 9/7/2022 at 12:07 PM, Spartancrest said:

Mauel, there is a 'daisho' in great condition here- https://www.jauce.com/auction/m1061687572

But would two different ships make up a daisho? Suppose so they are signed by the same maker.

I think this is a very nice set, I think they are actually the same ships but the big one have sails set and the other have them down.