Marionette-like image on tsuba

[rematron]

I came across this charming tsuba on jauce and wonder if anyone here knows the context of the imagery.  It looks like there’s a story there. 

https://www.jauce.com/auction/l1101033346

 

[kissakai]

There will certainly a story there and I'd like to know the theme

 

[Spartancrest]

From the way the little figures are moving I would guess they have something to do with the Sambasô [三番叟] dance or the older "Okina" legend.

The design is reminiscent of the legend of Chokara Sennin,  an immortal being who owned a horse that when necessary, could be conjured up from his gourd as if by magic. Perhaps this Sennin was a lover of the theatre? 

[kissakai]

I knew about Chokara as it is a common theme and this was reminiscent of this theme

[thutson]

What a lovely little tsuba. It looks to me like the little figures are performing a Kenshibu dance; a traditional dance accompanied with a sword and fan, but as to why they are appearing from his sleeve I have no idea...

 

I would love to learn more about it and thankyou for sharing Jeremy.

[ROKUJURO]

CHOKARO SENNIN.

https://www.giuseppe...tsuke-chokaro-sennin

[Spartancrest]

1 hour ago, thutson said:

why they are appearing from his sleeve I have no idea..

Have a closer look the figures are coming from a bag.  [which is a bit different than Chokaro's gourd as well] Daikoku is known to carry a bag and give out sweets etc but the representation doesn't look like him either?

This is a nice mystery to look into! 

[thutson]

Ah yes well spotted, the bag has the same pattern as on his robe, but you're right it is some kind of bag.

 

It's a fascinating mystery indeed, I'll see if I can find out anything else.

[rematron]

2 hours ago, thutson said:

but as to why they are appearing from his sleeve I have no idea...

 

45 minutes ago, Spartancrest said:

Have a closer look the figures are coming from a bag. 

Well, it’s a small detail that might not be significant but I believe that the figures are coming from inside his sleeve. To me, his right hand appears to be hidden in his sleeve and the material of the sleeve/bag has the same print/design as the rest of his garment. The bottom of the sleeve/bag has the same curvature and form as the bottom of the sleeve of the left hand. 
 

I could be wrong, of course. Regardless, I do enjoy the image. 

[Matsunoki]

Wonder if he is a children’s entertainer or a “magician” with the dancers being drawn out on a thread? I’ve never seen a famous legend that depicts this and I don’t think he is a  Sennin or similar?

[thutson]

I thought I could see his arm behind the bag but actually when you zoom in its also patterned material so I think it is his sleeve after all.

 

Colin, I like the idea of an entertainer with the little dansers being drawn out on a thread.

[thutson]

Perhaps it's depicting a Bunraku show, which is traditional form of Japanese puppet theatre founded in Osaka around the early 17th century.

[Spartancrest]

21 hours ago, rematron said:

I believe that the figures are coming from inside his sleeve.

My bad- bad eyesight! Yes I can see the sleeve now - lot up his sleeve, Penn & Teller would know how he did it! 

[rematron]

Sold for 70,000 yen.  It went for a lot less than I thought it would.  I wasn't the buyer.  It's interesting to see how much things sell for.  I continue to "watch" items even if I'm not going to bid on them just to see.  On a different day I might have joined in on the little battle.

[thutson]

After following the auction I decided to pull the trigger and ended up winning the auction. It's such a charming tsuba with an unusual and fascinating theme, I'm excited to see it in hand and study it further.

 

[BIG]

Hokusai manga work

 

https://www.amazon.c...ushika/dp/B07C5BYTSN

 

BEST

[Matsunoki]

18 minutes ago, BIG said:

Hokusai manga work

Excellent detective work! I tried and failed! Many thanks. 

[rematron]

5 hours ago, thutson said:

After following the auction I decided to pull the trigger and ended up winning the auction. It's such a charming tsuba with an unusual and fascinating theme, I'm excited to see it in hand and study it further.

 

 

Congrats, @thutson !  It's a catch.  Also, why I never post stuff on here that I'm actually seriously interested in before the auction ends. 

 

1 hour ago, BIG said:

Hokusai manga work

 

https://www.amazon.c...ushika/dp/B07C5BYTSN

 

BEST

 

Thanks, @BIG !  Nice job!

[SteveM]

Glad to see @BIG make a comeback on the forum. Long may it continue. 

[Spartancrest]

6 hours ago, SteveM said:

@BIG 

Has made a BIG difference to our understanding of this design - fantastic work! 

[Ford Hallam]

Brilliant call Mr Big 

 

Hokusai 1760 - 1849

Furukawa Genchin active 1716 - 1736

 

but the clues were already clear.

[rematron]

12 hours ago, BIG said:

Hokusai manga work

 

https://www.amazon.c...ushika/dp/B07C5BYTSN

 

BEST

for easy viewing:

 

[thutson]

Amazing detective work @BIG

 

Thanks @Ford Hallam for the dates, it's fascinating to think that Hokusai sketched his Manga from this tsuba. I wonder if any of his other sketches were also based on tsuba designs.

[Matsunoki]

I think the tsuba maker copied Hokusai

[Bugyotsuji]

I thought the same, but the dates do not seem to support that. So we have to consider other possibilities.

[BIG]

Other Tsuba..

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/385615067343

[thutson]

Another tsuba signed Furukawa Genchin

 

http://www.nihonto.us/LS017 FURUGAWA GENCHIN.htm

[Matsunoki]

Just my opinion but I find it very implausible that Hokusai would copy a tsuba design. He was not a copyist as far as I know, instead an extremely talented original artist and print maker with designs and subjects often copied by subsequent artists from the Meiji period….in both ceramics and metalwork

Also, just my opinion but I’d don’t think the tsuba is from the early 18thC.

It is not unknown for 19th and early 20thC  tsuba to carry the Mei of earlier masters….for a variety of reasons.

…..however it’s quite  likely I’m wrong

@Ford Hallam…..what do you think Ford?

 

[Ford Hallam]

To be honest it never occurred to me that Hokusai copied the tsuba 

 

The tsuba's own form suggest a very late manufacture in itself. The shape and exact position of the kozuka hitsu makes me feel whoever cut that opening never fitted a tsuba into a koshirae and had to align a hitsu with the saya etc.  The nakago-ana seems a bit contrived and just a bit over the top with frippery, eye candy!  No sign of use at all, but very pretty, if you like that sort of thing.

 

The position of the actual design also is off to my eyes, it seems top heavy or unbalanced. I think that classically speaking the body of the figure ought to be positioned much lower and the little figures more sympathetically arranged around the top edge and flowing onto the back. It's as though someone forced Hokusai's design onto a tsuba shaped disc but without fully understanding the subtleties of a few hundred years of craft rules and design sensibilities.

 

Another consideration for me would be the usual source material that Furukawa Genchin seems to have used in his kata-kiri work. While his actual cutting style is quite distinctive from that of his master he would without doubt be well versed in the paintings of Hanabusa Itcho and the like, who's brush work far better suits the bold expressiveness I'd expect of Genchin's chiselling. 

 

I'd have to agree with Colin and say that my take on the tsuba is that it's probably a Meiji, or later, piece intended to appeal with its charming illustration. The mei would possibly have been meaningless to the envisioned tourist but as period guidebooks advised  "...better works are invariably signed" , so signed they shall be 

[kissakai]

Great print - says it all