Sado Island tsuba?

[Spartancrest]

I just won this rather thick guard [7mm] with an unusual outline and was wondering if it is from Sado island? The only one like it is listed in Grev Cooke's book [The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery Tsuba collection V2] as belonging to that group.

Has anyone seen a similar design?  [Yes it needs some TLC but it didn't cost the Earth] https://www.jauce.com/auction/x1098415728

 

Grev's example.

 

Thanks in advance. 

[Spartancrest]

I just found this auction - listing two overlapping ' blunted' triangles, one positive one negative. I guess it is all in how you interpret the design.

[Brian]

Check out the info here, and especially the .pdf's uploaded by @kissakai
https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23711-sado-tsuba/

 

[Grevedk]

Hi Dale,

 

@kissakai made a superb write up on Sado School Tsuba in the attached PDF. A double “lock” design is described and shown. Your Tsuba could might well be considered to be of a triangle “lock” design 🤓

All the best

 

/Soren

 

On 10/9/2017 at 11:20 AM, kissakai said:

I have attached some notes about Sado tsuba. It would be nice to expand the PSD with more images and descriptions. In the PDF there are references to other Sado tsuba images but I don’t have these books so if anyone can add these images it would be a great deal of help with this project

 

 

 

 

Other information I’ve not found is how the wealthy lived on Sado Island did they bring their own cultural aspects, have samurai retainers as this will influence the making of tsuba

 

 

 

 

 

I’m hoping Ford may provide some information about were the tsuba iron came from and types of patina used and if there are any salient points a collector may recognise

 

 

 

 

 

These notes below are a synopsis of what I have found as the Sado history may help us understand their tsuba styles. Often quoted: great wealth brings great Art so there would have been a lot of money around especially in early Edo when gold and silver were found

 

 

 

 

 

It is said that people and culture of the mainland began to come onto Sado around the 8th century, when the whole of Japan was being formed as a country. The fact that there exist such temples as Kokubunji Temple (in Mano) and Chokokuji Temple (in Hatano) whose names are derived from the temples in the mainland shows that Sado has a very old history

 

 

 

 

 

Sado became an island to which criminals were exiled. It is said that many losers of political strifes were banished to Sado Island. In the Kamakura era the ex-Emperor Juntoku and Nichiren, the founder of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism, were exiled to Sado, while in the Muromachi era Zeami, who produced Noh songs of the Kanze school, was banished to the island. It follows that those highly cultured people who had been sent into exile in old times and their attendants introduced the culture of the metropolis to Sado Island.

 

 

 

 

 

Gold was found in 1601 at Aikawa and the Sado mine at its peak in the Edo era produced around 400 kg of gold a year (as well as some silver). The small settlement of Aikawa quickly reached a population of around 100,000 and the mine closed in 1989.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1672  the Nishimawari naval route was opened in the South of the Island and became a main stop on this major naval route in the Sea of Japan between the Kansai area and northern areas of the archipelago.

 

 

 

 

 

It is believed that Sado's culture started as an amalgamation of the cultures of various parts of Japan, but has incorporated it’s own unique influence.

 

 

For the most part the island is said to have been under the strong influence of the culture of the Hokuriku district and Western Japan. There is a theory that Sado's population during the 18th century reached 200,000 at its peak (100,000 people lived in the Aikawa district alone where the gold mine is located). The aristocratic culture of metropolitan Kyoto which exiles introduced, the culture of townspeople which merchants and sailors brought in and samurai culture arrived from Edo and took root on the island. Because Sado is isolated from the mainland, these cultures continued to stay on this island, and influencing each other, grew into Sado's unique culture.

 

 

 

 

 

Sado School Tsuba.pdf 1.32 MB · 250 downloads

 

 

 

 

Brian @Brian just beat me with the same link 😜👍

 

[Spartancrest]

Thanks Brian and Soren for the link, it seems this group of tsuba makers is not as well researched as many others and information is hard to come by - just makes it more intriguing. 

Grev's Pdf is a real bonus. The 'Double Lock' guard mentioned has also been described as a 'Heraldic Kite' by other sources - so like a lot of designs it comes down to what you think you 'see'. 

https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/24907-tsuba-crosslock/

 

I just found this old thread - just to add Ono into the mix?  Well the door remains open!

Hard design to find but obviously not unique.

 

[MauroP]

 

錠前透鐔 - jōmae sukashi tsuba
銘 佐州住 利貞 - mei  Sashū jū  Toshisada
変り形 鉄地 肉彫 - kawari-gata  tetsu-ji  nikubori
地透 角耳小肉 - ji-sukashi  kaku-mimi ko-niku