Higo Tagane

[JohnTo]

I bought the first tsuba in the pics below a couple of years ago (JB125) and was described as a Higo tsuba, an attribution that I was happy with at the time (and still am) given my limited knowledge.  The tsuba is a kikka gata (chrysanthemum shaped) iron sukashi tsuba with a flat migaki-ji (polished) surface with light engraving (kebori: hair carvings) to highlight the blossom and pine tree design.  The iron has a black patina with a fine crystalline structure with few apparent inhomogeneous iron inclusions (tekottsu).  The design consists of a mixture of cherry (split petals) and plum (rounded petals) blossom with the branch of a pine tree.  The sukashi is cut vertically through the plate with no rounding to the edges.  The mimi (rim) is defined by the 28-petal chrysanthemum design and there is a slight rounding to the edges.  The tsuba has ryu-hitsu, the kogai hitsu being of regular shape and the kodzuka hitsu is bordered by a blossom branch.  The nakago ana has no sekigane and shows some widening at the sides and filing at the bottom to fit a blade.  The interesting feature is the groups of small, shallow rectangular tagane at the top (four) and bottom (seven) of the nakago ana, which were almost certainly maker’s marks in place of a signature, as the tsuba is mumei.  I’ll get back to these later.

Statistics: Height: 7.9 cm, Width: 7.4 cm, Thickness (rim): 0.45 cm, Weight: 116 g

The design seems to be depict one (or both) of the following stories.  The first is the Noh play, Hachi no Ki (the potted trees), in which Lord Tokiyori, disguised as a priest, begs shelter from a former retainer, Tsuneyo Genzayemon, who has fallen on hard times.  Tsuneyo and his wife are only able to offer the priest boiled millet for food and, as it is cold and snowing, they chop up their three precious bonsai (plum, cherry and pine) and burn them to keep their guest warm.  Six months later Hojo no Tokiyori (ruled at Kamakura 1246-1256) summoned Tsuneyo and granted him three fiefs (Plumfield in Kaga, Cherrywell in Etchu and Pine-branch in Kozuke).  The 28-petal chrysanthemum probably alludes to Hojo no Tokiyori.  A yukioe print of a scene from the play is by Harunobu is attached.

The second theme that this tsuba may relate to is the bunraku and kabuki play ‘Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy’. The main characters of the play are Umemaru (plum tree), Sakuramaru (Cherry Tree), and Matsuomaru (Pine tree). In order to save the son of Sugawara, Matsuomaru used his own son as a decoy who was killed.

Anyway, back to the tagane.  I started to keep an eye open for tsuba with similar tagane marks and some reliable authentication (e.g. NBTHK).  Below are just a couple that I found together with part of an article published by Christian Malterre (sorry Christian, can’t remember where I got this from so that I can acknowledge your work) that attribute these ‘kakushi tagane’ to the two Higo masters: Kamiyoshi Fukanobu and Kamiyoshi Rajuku.  There is also an additional tsuba showing these tagane that was for sale on Ebay, but attributed the tsuba to Akasaka.

The two tsuba with NBTHK Hozon papers are attributed to ‘mumei kodai Higo (unsigned late Higo)’, which represents quite a wide range of possible makers.  Higo (now Kumamoto prefecture in Kyushu, southern Japan) was the home to four major (and numerous lesser) tsuba schools, namely: Hayashi, Hirata, Nishigaki and Shimizu (the founder Jinbei Shimizu renamed the school Jingo, famous for brass inlay).  Higo tsuba were highly regarded in the Edo period as illustrated by the old saying ‘For the best katana go to Bizen, for the best tsuba look to Higo’. (Information from Yatsuhiro Municipal Museum website).

The pattern of light tagane punch marks is obviously a ‘signature’ rather than an adjustment to the size of the nakago.  The NBTHK does not seem to be averse to attributing mumei tsuba to a particular tsubako, but the best that they do with these characteristic marks is ‘Late Higo’, which encompasses a lot of workshops as well as artisans.  I have found other examples, but either the photos do not allow close examination of the tagane or the nakago has been modified.

My questions are these: Can these particular kakushi tagane marks be attributed to a particular artist/school, or were they used by several (unknown) artists in different workshops over different periods of time?  Also were these tsuba faked a lot?

Pictures:

1.       My tsuba: Omote

2.       My tsuba: Ura with tagane

3.       Harunobu print of Potted Trees

4.       Example 1

5.       NBTHK Hozon for Example 1

6.       Example 2

7.       NBTHK Hozon for Example 2

8.       Christian Malterre picture

9.       Christian Malterre text

10.   ‘Akasaka’ Example

 

Best Regards, John

(just a guy making observations, asking questions, trying to learn)

[DirkO]

Hi John,

These punch marks are explained at length in Ito Mitsuru's books about Higo tsuba. And yes they can serve to identify specific tsuba-ko. I don't have my books here with me at work, but here's a Rakuju of mine - 2 at the top, 3 at the bottom. But it's not just the count of punch marks, also the angle, size, placement .... Remember, they're being applied as a sort of signature, so they should be scrutinized as such. The ones in your examples are usually attributed to Ko-dai work, so later work - they usually lack confidence, are shallow, sometimes not even connected to the nakago-ana,...

[suketaka]

Hello John,

 

you wrote:

The NBTHK does not seem to be averse to attributing mumei tsuba to a particular tsubako, but the best that they do with these characteristic marks is ‘Late Higo’

 

I own Kamiyoshi Mumei Tsuba. The NBTHK judge the one to Rakuju the other to Fukanobu.

 

We have to look at the workmanship together with the Tagane.

 

All your shown Tsuba missing a good workmanship and a nice Tagane punch that you will find on Tsuba from the two Kamiyoshi master.

 

This will be the main reason for a Hozon with Kodai or only Higo attribution.

 

 

[suketaka]

Look at these phantastic Higo Tsuba

 

https://artsandcultu...story/QAXxDIAlN6VZLg

 

Here you see special Tagane together with wormanship

[Curran]

The squared off tagane marks most often exist in the Higo Hayashi and its subsequent Higo Kamiyoshi school.

Depending on the maker you are talking about, some makers are more precise and consistent in their marks than others.

 

Here is a Hayashi example of a Musashi style tsuba that I have owned for a long time.

 

[Soshin]

16 hours ago, suketaka said:

All your shown Tsuba missing a good workmanship and a nice Tagane punch that you will find on Tsuba from the two Kamiyoshi master.

 

I completely agree with this point, and it is critical to remember and keep it in mind as you collect. The attributed "Kodai Higo" tsuba lacks the excellent quality associated with the works of both artists Kamiyoshi Rakuju and Fukanobu. I have one papered Fukanobu tsuba in my collection and it is one of the best sukashi tsuba I have in my whole collection. It has punch marks around the nakago hitsu-ana so I will post a photo of it for reference. More information and photos can be accessed on my website: Tsuba Gallery #5 | Tsuba Otaku. It is the third tsuba on the webpage from the top as you scroll down.  

 
    

[JohnTo]

Sorry for the delay in acknowledging your replies, been away from the computer and tsuba for a while.  Thanks for the examples and reference to the Kumamoto museum (very interesting exhibits)

Please note that for some unknown reason my photos have been scrambled from the order in which I loaded them so they appear as

1.       Example 2

2.       Example 1

3.       NBTHK Hozon for Example 1

4.       My tsuba: Omote

5.       Harunobu print of Potted Trees

6.       My tsuba: Ura with tagane

7.       NBTHK Hozon for Example 2

8.       Christian Malterre picture

9.       Christian Malterre text

10.   ‘Akasaka’ Example

 

Best regards, John