Shachihoko. A robust iron tsuba.

[Matsunoki]

Hello from a sunny windy UK.

I really  like this tsuba. It also left home at the same time as my previously listed wasp nest piece but now, along with the wasps, it has also returned, and here it stays. I was so pleased to get it back. The beasts are  depicted in nice crisp detail and very high relief with a somewhat grumpy demeanour and overall the tsuba is a bit of a weighty handful. The colour is a consistent very dark brown, almost black in some light.

Your ideas re age, school etc would be most welcome. I have found another similar piece that looks to have been spoiled by later harsh gilding and I know there is a separate thread for these critters but I was trying to get as many opinions as possible hence separate thread.

Thanks for looking.

H8.3cm W7.9 cm Thickness 6.5mm

 

[Grevedk]

Good evening Colin,

 

Lovely and rather cool tsuba. I really enjoy your postings, taste and the invitation to flex one’s mind around the art of tsuba. And this one with the design and motive of a Tiger-fish got me to remember a another design with a rather cool Tiger-fish Kabuto (helmet).

 

Could be the beginning of collecting a full set of Tiger-fish armor, armaments and fittings 😜👍

 

 

All the best

 

Soren

 

Edited March 24, 2023 by Grevedk
When someone beat you to it 😜 remember to quote correctly

[Grevedk]

  On 3/21/2023 at 1:00 AM, b.hennick said:

Here is a Shiachi kabuto

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[Spartancrest]

  On 3/24/2023 at 3:32 PM, Matsunoki said:

with a somewhat grumpy demeanour

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You never see a happy Shachi  - what got them so upset!  

[GRC]

Really nice example with excellent detail, congrats

[Bugyotsuji]

Now I have not followed this up, so apologies in advance, but I was watching something on J TV the other day and they were discussing a Chinese vase with a rather spiky fish depicted on it. 

 

The 'expert' was explaining that there was a fish in Chinese mythology that swallowed a snake, and this changed it into a dragon which ascended to the heavens. Aha, I thought, is this where the shachi legend started?

[Matsunoki]

  On 3/24/2023 at 10:52 PM, Spartancrest said:

what got them so upset!  

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Being stuck up on the roof gables in all weathers?

[Soshin]

  On 3/24/2023 at 3:32 PM, Matsunoki said:

Your ideas re age, school etc would be most welcome.

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Hello Colin H.,

 

Nice tsuba and in answer to the above questions I think your tsuba looks to be the work of the Ito School of Musashi Province (around Edo) circa the late Edo Period early to mid-19th Century.

   

[Matsunoki]

  On 3/27/2023 at 11:18 AM, Soshin said:

and in answer to the above questions

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Hello again David

Many thanks for looking and commenting. You are the only one to express an opinion  on the school and I greatly appreciate that!

All the best..Colin

Edited March 27, 2023 by Matsunoki
Corrected David’s name

[GRC]

Colin, the carving style and layout on yours is nearly the identical twin to the papered Shoami school tsuba posted by "Mauro P" on page 1 of the shachi thread started by Barry Hennick.

 

It's clearly the same school, if not the same maker. The only difference is one is pierced through, while the other is not, and the pierced one has nunome (perhaps added later as you suggested in your original post). Unsigned tsuba with nunome often get binned in the catchall "Shoami" school, unless they look more "Nanban" in style or show some obvious signs of belonging to some other school.

 

This type of late Edo style seems to be difficult to pin down to a particular school (lots of crossover of style and motif usage)...

I would suggest Shoami, Echizen (Kinai), Hizen, maybe even Eiju Seiryuken are all fair possibilities. It was obviously a repeated version of this motif, albeit not a very common one. You're going to have to hold out and hope to see a signed one someday.

 

I'm curious about the reasons for David's Ito attribution. It's not something I would have associated with the Ito school.

  

  

[Matsunoki]

  On 3/29/2023 at 10:51 PM, GRC said:

It's clearly the same school, if not the same maker.

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Thanks Glen…appreciate your time and insights. Yes, when you put them next to one another it’s a good bet they are by the same artist. I wonder if even the sukashi work was done later together with the nunome to “liven it up a bit”?

Who knows, yet another puzzle!

Strange, but my personal taste favours my solid unadorned version.

Thanks again and all the best.

Colin

[rematron]

I agree with your taste Colin. The gold distracts from the image as a whole. Yours has a stronger presence with just the eye highlighted. Also goes with the whole “less is more” aesthetic of Japanese art. 

 

[Soshin]

  On 3/29/2023 at 10:51 PM, GRC said:

I'm curious about the reasons for David's Ito attribution. It's not something I would have associated with the Ito school.

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While the subject and design are the same, I am seeing a substantial number of differences in the exception of the design between the two tsuba. The first being the use of a fair about of openwork in the negative space, but also the details of fins, horns, and scales.     

[Spartancrest]

  On 3/29/2023 at 10:51 PM, GRC said:

the carving style and layout on yours is nearly the identical twin to the papered Shoami school tsuba

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  On 3/27/2023 at 11:18 AM, Soshin said:

I think your tsuba looks to be the work of the Ito School of Musashi Province

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I have no idea which 'School' [of thought] is correct - but there are many Ito School guards of a solid plate. I think most people equate Ito with fine openwork guards but the school did just about every type of decoration. Have a look at the A.H. Church collection section on Ito work, you will be surprised at the variations in style. 

http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10237/10355

 

This hobby is never clear cut - thank goodness! - or it would get boring in no time. 

[Soshin]

  On 4/5/2023 at 8:18 AM, Spartancrest said:

 

 

I have no idea which 'School' [of thought] is correct - but there are many Ito School guards of a solid plate. I think most people equate Ito with fine openwork guards but the school did just about every type of decoration. Have a look at the A.H. Church collection section on Ito work, you will be surprised at the variations in style. 

http://jameelcentre.ashmolean.org/collection/7/10237/10355

 

This hobby is never clear cut - thank goodness! - or it would get boring in no time. 

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I completely agree, it is a good point to keep in mind as a collector. The same thing can alos be said about the Shoami School as well. The techniques used were so numerous across all the many different regional Shoami schools. When you just examine signed examples, you see an extremely broad range of techniques unitized.    

[Matsunoki]

  On 4/5/2023 at 8:18 AM, Spartancrest said:

This hobby is never clear cut - thank goodness! - or it would get boring in no time. 

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  On 4/5/2023 at 11:01 AM, Soshin said:

I completely agree, it is a good point to keep in mind as a collector.

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Yep, it’s sure confusing at times! My approach……I just buy things I like and the try to find out what they are.

Thank you all for looking, commenting and helping.

All the best. Colin