what do you make of this tsuba?

[Marius]

Dear All,

 

you have seen it on eBay, I presume, and I am the one who has found it interesting at $150

 

I have received it today and I just wonder what this tsuba is?

 

I like it (but who am I to judge it...), it is in very good condition, a bit of surface rust (can be easily cleaned), but no great age either (to my eyes). Still, a compelling piece of iron which forces me to handle it again and again and which gives me great pleasure to fuss with it.

 

What puzzles me is what seems to be huge tekkotsu in the plate and rim - are they realy tekkotsu? Then, I also marvel at its crude finish, which does not seem to look like it was designed this way on purpose - this is not tsuchime, or is it? On one side of the rim the tsuba looks like it has been molten. The seppa-dai on the omote side looks scorched - as if a signature has been removed? Hitsu ana are plugged with shakudo.

 

It's a rather large tsuba, dimensions are 9.5 x 8.5 cm, seppa dai thickness is 4 mm. It is heavy - a whopping 219 gramm.

 

Please have a look at the pictures. I would be delighted to hear what you think about it. The color is dark brown, with no luster, rather dull, but in no way as bright as in the pictures (taken with a flash, I presume) (PLEASE NOTE: I have deleted the original pics and replaced them with better ones, done with no flash and reflecting the color of the patina)

 

Thank you for looking

[Lee Bray]

Looks corroded. Maybe it was laying in a river for a while, found, re-finished and sold.

 

?

[Curran]

Looks like a nice massive tsuba to me. 4mm at the plate. How large at the mimi?

Great looking mimi with gnarly iron nodules going on. Hard to tell from the flash how bad the surface rust might be, but looks nice.

 

______________________________________________________________________

 

Incidentally, regarding your red copper tsuba used as your avatar, Try: http://www.nihonto.us/HOHOSHI%20YOSHITOSHI%20KOZUKA.htm

I'm not sure it is this guy, but it is an example of early 20th century work where that bright earthy (Georgia red clay) copper patina is seen.

 

Curran

[Marius]

Thanks for the replies

 

I don't think the plate was heavily corroded, it looks too healthy for that. Besides, it looks more hammered and molten that corroded - no flakes, no pits, healthy looks...

 

Curran, the mimi is 5-6 mm thick. Those "gnarly iron nodules" look very much like tekkotsu, albeit very large ones.

 

I have attached some pictures to my original post and deleted the old ones. My pics have been taken wthout flash and they show the colour and texture much better. Maybe this will give you some clues? My only clue is: it must be good tsuba, because I like to handle it - I know, that is one bad indicator of tsuba quality [sigh..]

 

Speaking of handling a tsuba - I was looking for something to compare the tsuba's looks with. I have been thinking of Japanese teaware and then I have stumbled on a ko-shoami tsuba which has been likened to a Raku tea bowl with its glaze surface (Haynes #5, page 24, tsuba #61). The quality of the Haynes picture is bad, but this tsuba reminds me of mine... the same big iron bones and the same "molten" look. (I don't say my tsuba is ko-shoami, of course). A puzzle, but definitely a likeable tsuba one wants to touch.

 

BTW, there is an interesting artcile on Raku tea bowls, where the author points out the sensuality of these items:

 

http://www.terebess.hu/terebessgabor/raku.html

 

I think many of tsuba enthusiasts here know this feeling

 

Sorry for being so chatty today, but this tsuba is such a nice puzzle...

[Curran]

Better pictures. Thank you.

With a bit of ivory clean up, some pocket time (or occasional TLC with undyed felt or denim), it should make the tsuba all that much nicer. Definitely a large one. I had considered relating it to tea wares, but my grasp of 'wabi' or 'sabi' is not very academic.

 

Be careful/cautious of rubbing the shakudo in any work on the tsuba.

[Steve Waszak]

From the photos, this tsuba looks to me like 19th-century revival work. This was a period when some of the famous Momoyama tsubako (Nobuiye, Yamakichibei, among others) were copied rather copiously. Since Nobuiye and especially Yamakichibei produced tsuba with pronounced Tea sensibility aesthetic features, it is not that surprising to see such features reproduced in the "Nobuiye-esque" and "Yamakichibei-esque" tsuba made in the 19th-century revivalist times. One of the tell-tale signs of revivalist work is the rather "overdone" quality of the features that distinguish the work of the original Nobuiye (shodai and nidai) and the original Yamakichibei smiths. These would include, especially, exaggerated tekkotsu, but also overdone tsuchime, mimi, etc...

 

On this particular guard, one other thing that stands out is the somewhat awkward placement and execution of the hitsuana. They appear amateurish to me, skewed in their relationship to one another, and haphazardly finished (even given the rustic aesthetic the tsuba is going for). This is not to say, though, that this tsuba isn't an appealing, tactilely pleasing object that one cannot enjoy. I can see its appeal, too, and can imagine that it feels great in the hand, especially with the weight that must accompany its size. Enjoy your tsuba, whatever it may be! ;o)

 

Cheers,

 

Steve