The only way is up - or is it?

[dir]

Having read the posts on tachi tsuba and Bob Hayne's interpretation in his Study book, I wonder about this one I recently acquired. Many tsuba in my collection have the main motif at the bottom or lower sides rather than at the top. (There may be a piece of inlay missing at bottom right). And since I haven't yet identified the plants I don't know whether they are leaves or flowers and whether they are upside down! At the top the rim is a bit thicker than at the other three lobes - so the plants might be growing out of the earth? At either side are two semi-circular grooves which appear to have been silver lined and which meet up with the rim. On the reverse there is only one on the left for some reason. An initial thought was that the tsuba lobes had been broken and rejoined, but this does not seem to be the case. So, I was wondering whether this tsuba may have started life for a tachi and then was repurposed for a katana with the hitsu added later? Size is H 8.4 cm, W 8 cm, T 4.1mm, weight 139gr. Any thoughts (and views on the plants/flowers) would be gratefully received.

 

Thanks and regards

 

David

[Matsunoki]

David….I’m no tsuba expert but this looks a real puzzler and I look forward to the opinions of the guys that know.

I would offer the possibility that the flora in question could be one of the more weeping variety of bamboo. The leaves certainly look like bamboo.

I hope you get clarification.

all the best. Colin

[rkg]

David,

I am not sure which plant that is, my first thought was bamboo leaves, but there don't seem to be enough per stalk for that - maybe one of the resident horticulturist types would have a better suggestion.  The problem with exact themes is that often the artist is referencing some insular meaning or image or... that was popular at the time so the reasons for the composition/meaning can be devilishly hard for us gaijin to discern. maybe the protrusion on the left is a rock or something?

 

The piece as you have it (with the bulk of the leaves/branches at the top on the front side) would be my guess as to the correct orientation - that way the bulk of the decoration (the missing piece and the leaves) would be the most visible when worn. 

I don't believe it is a repurposed tachi tsuba. Aside from it being comparatively young (not that that means anything, as somebody could make anything at any time if asked, but the later tachi tsuba were mostly made for show and in general looked "different" from the earlier ones - more often than not symmetric, etc), the decorations are awful close to the nakago ana and would therefore get covered by any kind of oversized seppa - they kind of did that, but not really.  And finally, the shape is symmetric - for this shape, the tachi tsuba was usually "waisted", meaning the bottom lobe was narrower than the top lobe ("aoi shape").

 

Here is your piece compared to an old tachi tsuba (well, it started out as a tachi tsuba, and got repurposed, so now  thanks to the ana,  is now a ko-kinko tsuba, but I digress).  This often existed in other archaic shapes too, but sometimes its pretty subtle/arguable its mostly there due to layout errors than anything else - On this next one the "waisting" is subtle, but I think its there:

 

And yeah, on a tachi tsuba if there is a subject it is upside up when the blade edge is pointed down.

 

Just for grins here's an old (tachishi) piece that appears to have a "waist" but was actually designed  to be worn blade up as is obvious from the waves/seashell to the "outside" so it is prominent when worn, was not meant to have o-seppa on the piece (small seppa dai) etc:

 

Best,

rkg

(Richard George)

 

 

[zanilu]

Just found an almost exact copy of the design on buyee...

 

https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/e1049678361

 

Regards

Luca

[Matsunoki]

11 minutes ago, zanilu said:

Just found an almost exact copy on buyee...

Luca….. What a coincidence ! Translation says it’s bamboo. Puzzle solved David?

 

 

[Spartancrest]

Luca, you would make a good detective! 

Colin, "Synchronicity"  [it happens to me all the time. ] The double even has those "dimples"(?) on the semicircular side panels - no idea what they represent?

[Matsunoki]

5 minutes ago, Spartancrest said:

The double even has those "dimples"(?) on the semicircular side panels - no idea what they represent?

Morning Dale

re the “dots”……they only appear on the three side panels that give the impression of being “folded over” so I wonder if they represent some form of welding punch…..bit like a modern spot weld? 
….just a thought.

All the best

Colin

[dir]

Thanks everyone for the comments and detective work! Amazing coincidence to have found a similar one - the auction one has gold leaves and looks a little bit finer than mine. And mine is not signed as the auction one is said to be (Mumei). The description is rather simple and says nothing about the "half-circle" lines? I did think at first the leaves might have been bamboo, but then thought that they were not quite right, as Richard noted. But then it begs the question - mine was actually bought in Japan just recently - so is it a copy or is it an unsigned version from the same chap or,...?!

 

Regards

 

David

[Matsunoki]

David…..sorry but my knowledge is lacking beyond what I’ve already said. I hope others can offer opinions. 
All the best

Colin

[Spartancrest]

David I just found what is missing from that patch at the bottom omote side of your guard - an inlay of a bird. Three of a kind must have been a popular design, likely others out there. No further along with who made it or when - sorry.

http://ancientpoint.com/inf/13134-large_tsuba___bird__bamboo___mokko_style_tasteful_86mm_box.html

 

Popular design indeed - if they like it enough to make cast copies!

https://www.jauce.com/auction/b1040148320

Edited October 23, 2022 by Spartancrest
new data on cast copy

[dir]

Wow! What a find. Thanks so much for this info! Do you have any thoughts about the thicker rim at the top?

 

Regards

 

David 

[Spartancrest]

David, I think the thickened rim is just a design element framing the bamboo, it isn't carried through on the ura or the bottom of the guard as a Dote-mimi would be. Pretty sure it isn't 管耳 Kan-mimi - Thicker rounder raised rims. (Thicker and rounder than Dote-mimi )

[Matsunoki]

8 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

David, I think the thickened rim is just a design element framing the bamboo

Hi Dale……agreed…if you look at the one in the link provided by Luca you can see the thicker rim is actually carved to represent curved bamboo.