Tsuka ito "spacers"?

[Dan tsuba]

Hello all,

 

So, I have a question (again!).

 

I think that this is the correct “area” in the forum to post this.

 

I have a daisho set and a "lone" tsuka that looks like it is from a wakizashi (with just “holes” in the rayskin where these “spacers” (?) appeared).  I noticed that there are 2 and up to 3 raised areas in the “same” towards the end of the tsuka. (pictures attached).   I don’t know about these raised areas.  I have tried researching them but couldn’t find anything about them or what they are known as.  Were they used as spacing for the ito?   Are they just raised areas of the “ray skin same” that were placed at the upper end of the tsuka? 

 

If they are not part of the “ray skin” what are they made from?  I also noticed that these raised areas do not appear on “the later period made same” of tsuka.  My daisho is from the Muromachi period.  Those 2 to 3 raised “same” areas are only on one side of the tuska.

 

Thanks for your assistance,

 

With respect,

Dan

[Tensho]

Either the emperor nodes deteriorated and broke off, or more likely as I have commonly seen emperor nodes glued onto lesser quality same/'tsuka

[Bazza]

Somewhere in my mind comes this little echo - "whale bone" carved to resemble "emperor nodes".  As to the functional purpose of these 'lumps' vis-a-vis the tsukaitoI, I'm not entirely sure if there is one, but it must have something to do with the quality of the same being put on show front and centre, as it were, an aesthetic use of the principal feature of a quality same skin.

 

BaZZa.

[Dan tsuba]

Hello all,

 

Thanks for your help!

 

So, are these “emperor nodes” part of the ray skin?  Or are they made from other material (whale bone, shell, or whatever) and then glued onto cut out areas of the “same”.  What do they represent and why were they used?  I noticed that when the sword is worn, the “emperor nodes” would appear “facing outward” (to be viewed) and would be displayed (since they are only on one side of the tsuka).

 

Thanks,

 

With respect,

Dan

[Tensho]

Yes they're part of the skin. There's only one emperor node(the big one) followed by a couple other slightly smaller ones. The overall nodes on the skin will be larger if the emperor node is as well(notice how small they are in your pictures?) They should be much larger.

 

On a well made tsuka, only one full sheet of ray skin is used to wrap around the tsuka core. Hence, you only get one piece. You'll usually see cheaper tsuka with ray skin panels. Great quality ray skin is very expensive.  

 

Its basically to show off. And as Bazza said, this one appears to be made of bone or the likes. 

[1kinko]

Google Namikawa Heibei then same. Ray skins by grade.

[Brian]

Rayskin only has a small area of these larger nodes. Therefore although you might get a few wraps out of a skin, only one will have that area.
The larger the nodes showing through the tsuka ito, the more prestige you have. It was a sign of higher quality, like you could afford a better wrap.
So on swords showing good nodes, there is sometimes a better blade or better tosogu. Basically it was a flex to have a tsuka with big nodes.
Therefore those who couldn't afford a high end wrap, sometimes had it faked. They would glue on fake nodes made from whatever, to give the impression of an original wrap.
Where you see round flat areas, is possibly where fake nodes fell off.

 

[Matsunoki]

These images give us a good idea of just how “valued” good same was. This example was exquisitely mounted for presentation, not for actual use. Very very rare to find one of these.

[Dan tsuba]

Thanks all for your great assistance with the “same ray skin”.   Who knew!  I learned something new (again!). 

 

I got on the website listed by Darrel (thanks!).  For the ray skin with large emperor nodes, they are asking about $376.00 U.S. dollars!

 

So, I can imagine that the “same” was placed on the tsuka.  Then the ito was wrapped.  Then 2 to 3 small pieces of the “same” were cut (at the top end of the tsuka) and “fake emperor nodes” were glued into the tsuka?

 

If the “emperor nodes” were original to the “ray skin” then all the nodes on the “same” would appear as much larger in size?  And (another thought!), are the larger nodes on a ray skin found only on "older" rays (I would think so).

 

Also, are these “fake emperor nodes” indicative of only being used on tsuka in a certain period of Japanese history? 

 

With respect,

Dan

[rematron]

  On 1/5/2023 at 6:36 AM, Brian said:

Rayskin only has a small area of these larger nodes. Therefore although you might get a few wraps out of a skin, only one will have that area.
The larger the nodes showing through the tsuka ito, the more prestige you have. It was a sign of higher quality, like you could afford a better wrap.
So on swords showing good nodes, there is sometimes a better blade or better tosogu. Basically it was a flex to have a tsuka with big nodes.
Therefore those who couldn't afford a high end wrap, sometimes had it faked. They would glue on fake nodes made from whatever, to give the impression of an original wrap.
Where you see round flat areas, is possibly where fake nodes fell off.

 

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Thanks for that explanation, Brian.  Learn something new every day!