Old documents about tosogu (French)

[OceanoNox]

It may be of interest to know that the French National Library (BNF) has several scans of the Bulletin de la Societe Franco-Japonaise de Paris.

There, I found one article by Henri L. Joly (Introduction to the study of sabre fittings, 1909) and by the Comte de Tressan (Evolution of Japanese handguards from origins to the 15th century, 1910). The links are below. There is some discussion about a Mr. Hayashi's tendency to date tsuba as older than they were, and another trend about making them newer than they were.

 

Interestingly, the Comte de Tressan separates tsuba in three categories:

1- From the 12th century onwards, primitive iron guards with limited decoration;

2- From the 15th century, tsuba with sukashi-bori;

3- From the end of the 15th century, tsuba with taka-bori.

 

From my observation of examples extant in various collections, I would have thought the categories would be Tosho / Kacchushi / Sukashi (in general), as the measurements of those three groups are quite marked (and the structure of the tsuba also).

 

https://gallica.bnf....4.r=tsuba?rk=42918;4

https://gallica.bnf....z.r=tsuba?rk=64378;0

 

Following this, I was reading Mrs. Gunsaulus' book on the Field museum fittings (1923), where she cites Joly a lot (to the point that it seems to be her main source). There, I found a comment that I did not expect (but I am a novice): According to the Comte de Tressan, katana tsuba never had the two hitsu ana. Would this mean that hitsu ana on katana tsuba were added to match the wakizashi tsuba, or for esthetics?

 

By the way, Joly writes in this article the story about kogai used to mark one's kills, and comments (sarcastically?) "how many kogai did warriors carry?". He qualifies many theories about the use of kogai as "limping" and "doubtful". He also remarks that the end of the kogai handle (the mimi-kaki) resembles a European ear scratcher (called "escurette" in France apparently).

[DirkO]

Thanks for these Arnaud - they'll make a nice little trip down history - to see how collectors back then perceived everything.

[Spartancrest]

3 hours ago, OceanoNox said:

According to the Comte de Tressan, katana tsuba never had the two hitsu ana.

I think it should read "Tachi" tsuba never had hitsu - they were added later to fit Katana koshirae. 

[Spartancrest]

When the Marquis de Tressan died his collection was auctioned and dispersed - I have some images from his collection that I translated into English [not very well] You might notice a few shown in the links suplied by Arnaud.

 

[Spartancrest]

[Spartancrest]

[OceanoNox]

21 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

I think it should read "Tachi" tsuba never had hitsu - they were added later to fit Katana koshirae. 

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find the original paper by the Comte. It should be in the Bulletin de la Societe Franco-Japonaise de Paris, number 28 (XXVIII) of the year 1912 (possibly published in December). The BNF site has numbers 27 and 29, but not the one in the middle!

Reading old articles, I have to say I am grateful for the updated norms in referencing sources, because sometimes in old journals, there isn't even a publication date: how can anyone find the origin of citations?

And thank you for the scans of the collection pieces!

[Spartancrest]

Another article I translated by the Marquis De Tressan 1913.

 

[Spartancrest]

[Spartancrest]

There was another article from 1910 very similar to the link posted by Arnaud - I have translated it to English and condensed the layout. The Marquis/Comte seems to have been rather prolific with his articles, though many of the examples he presented were used over and over again.

[Baba Yaga]

Pg205 states wrought Iron started in the 1400-1500. Just because it's written by one source doesn't make it right, but it is written. If we can find 2 other sources then it "could be" considered a fact. 

[OceanoNox]

51 minutes ago, Baba Yaga said:

Pg205 states wrought Iron started in the 1400-1500

In the 12th century, and peaked in the 15th~16th centuries, as I understood he meant the tosho and kacchushi tsuba appeared in the 12th century. But I think Sasano in his book on the origin of tosogu (刀装具の起源, 1979) also claims that katana tsuba appeared in the Kamakura period (please correct me if wrong, I cannot check the book). They were making the swords already, the material was there.

One of the points raised by Tressan is that tsuba have been misjudged in terms of age, with most people making them newer than they were, and a merchant named Hayashi making them much older than they could be (and Mr. Hayashi having died without publishing his work, his sources could not be checked).

 

[Baba Yaga]

1 hour ago, OceanoNox said:

In the 12th century, and peaked in the 15th~16th centuries, as I understood he meant the tosho and kacchushi tsuba appeared in the 12th century. But I think Sasano in his book on the origin of tosogu (刀装具の起源, 1979) also claims that katana tsuba appeared in the Kamakura period (please correct me if wrong, I cannot check the book). They were making the swords already, the material was there.

One of the points raised by Tressan is that tsuba have been misjudged in terms of age, with most people making them newer than they were, and a merchant named Hayashi making them much older than they could be (and Mr. Hayashi having died without publishing his work, his sources could not be checked).

 

 

That's really  I'm sure the National Museum in Japan is in with one of the Universities and can do metallurgical date testing. Tokyo has a very advanced testing center. Wonder why that don't