Chinese New Year of the Dragon

JohnTo · February 7

February 10^th is the start of the Chinese Year of the Dragon. I’m sure many of you have fittings with dragons, so let me get the ball rolling with start with two tsuba of mine. Perhaps, as it is the Chinese New Year, I should post some Nanban Chinese dragons, but I thought I would post these two as they seem to have nice smiley faces and do not look particularly fearsome; a good New Year omen.

I have attributed both of these tsuba to the 19thC Mito School based upon the observations that the artists tended to make large iron plate tsuba with a hammered surface and raised areas of iron which they carved in detail and left their work unsigned. The surface of both tsuba is a glassy chocolate brown, which why I think they are 19thC rather than earlier. Other schools which I think could be candidates for the makers are the Myochin and the Natsuo workshops.

The first tsuba is a large (9.6 x 8.7 cm) rectangular plate tsuba showing a dragon among clouds and wrapped around a diamond shape (clan mon?) in the centre. Most of the design is formed by hammering the iron around the proposed design element to form an indentation and then carving the centre. However, the iron forming the dragons head has been raised above the plate before carving. The tsuba is highlighted in parts by a light application of gold, called kakihage (shadow), giving a more subtle effect than nunome inlay.

The second dragon tsuba is also a large (8.4 x 7.8 cm) iron plate, which has been roughly hammered into shape and shows many lumps and bumps, which I hope that I am correctly identifying as tekkotsu, rather than being fooled by irregularities made to look like tekkotsu (clever these artisans!). The areas containing the clouds and dragon look like they have been indented into the plate using a pre-shaped stamp, but I think that it is actually skilful forging. The dragon has a welcoming, rather than fearsome, look and the eyes are gilt to impart some life into the critter. Although the dragon is a typical three clawed Japanese variety it also has three tails, namely a long curly one, another about half the length ending with what looks like a brush used for calligraphy and a short tail, again looking like a calligraphy brush. No idea why.

Comments and further information welcome

Best regards for the (Chinese) New Year, Regards, John

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

Vermithrax16 · February 7

Dragon thread always a great way to see some nice things. Good idea.

Tcat · February 7

Happy lunar new year! Beautiful tsuba John. Good luck to all in the year of the dragon.

Winchester · February 7

Hi John,

On the first tsuba, it almost appears that the eyes are not gilt; rather, that they are brass. Probably just my interpretation of the photo. Very cool and thanks for sharing!

Spartancrest · February 7

Rain dragon fuchi and a menuki.

Tcat · February 7

Great menuki Dale never seen one like it...what school would it be?

Spartancrest · February 8

37 minutes ago, Tcat said:

what school would it be?

IDHACAA - [I don't have a clue at all. ]

An even more intriguing one. I wish someone had kept the mates to both of them. Single menuki only give you half the answers.

And lets not forget the rain dragon tsuba [115 examples on record and counting]

Bugyotsuji · February 8

Combine dragon and umé for seasonal emphasis? (Says Umetada too, but with the ‘bury’ character 埋.)

Vermithrax16 · February 8

Mito_Dragon_frontsmall.jpg.d0ab5be5a238d1ae6feb5f54af08d676.jpg

Soshin · February 8

Here are my dragon menuki that fit the Chinese New Year theme nicely. They are made of iron and and important part of a koshirae I have. Enjoy.

Spartancrest · February 8

On 2/8/2024 at 6:07 AM, Tcat said:

Good luck to all in the year of the dragon.

I wonder if this tsuba is related to the pieces shown by Alex?

https://www.willishe...2014/lot-51-tsuba-2/

Edited February 9 by Spartancrest
better image

Kurikata · February 8

Happy new year (almost)!

image.png.056357dd039f0e15db7f07984cba98f1.png

Tcat · February 8

48 minutes ago, Spartancrest said:

I wonder if this tsuba is related to the pieces shown by Alex?

https://www.willishe...2014/lot-51-tsuba-2/

I have been trying to get hold of one of these with this motif...there are a few out there. Theres one on yahoo Japan now but with sakura motif. A collector in the US has one but its out of my reach. Here's a matching set for the kozuka...

Bugyotsuji · February 8

Kozuka

(Fairly chunky gold dragon on nanako says Happy New Year!)

JohnTo · February 8

I see that Alex and Dale have posted pieces with brass inlay of abstract dragons, so let me add mine. This tsuba is highly polished iron with a brown patina resembling shibuichi, which is what the auction house catalogued it as. The shape is a rounded mokko gata (nade mokko or Otafuku gata) with the ji tapering towards the edges (goishi gata). The tsuba has flush inlay (honzogan) of stylised dragons in brass, two on the front and one on the back and is signed Kashu (no) ju Katsukuni. Flush brass inlay was a speciality of the Kaga tsuba makers and Haynes says there was eight generations of the Katsukuni family in Kaga working from ca. 1700 to 1880.

Anyone any ideas on the origin of the abstract dragon design?

Best regards, John

Bugyotsuji · February 8

Good question. I have a Netsuké in that dragon design, but when did the abstract form originate?

Talking of dragon menuki, I have one in gold which was re-invented as a maé-kanagu on a kinkarakawa inro/sagemono tobacco pouch.

Tcat · February 8

1 hour ago, JohnTo said:

I see that Alex and Dale have posted pieces with brass inlay of abstract dragons

Gold not brass.

Vermithrax16 · February 8

2 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

Good question. I have a Netsuké in that dragon design, but when did the abstract form originate?

Talking of dragon menuki, I have one in gold which was re-invented as a maé-kanagu on a kinkarakawa inro/sagemono tobacco pouch.

Oooohhhh I like that. Nice.

zanilu · February 8

A, put toghether set in my collection.

Probably Mito...

Regards

Luca

Deez77 · February 8

My only rain dragon motif tsuba...not a common Echizen Kinai design.

Damon

hobnails · February 10

Happy year of the dragon

Steves87 · February 10

I have a couple of Kofu rain dragon Tsuba and a bunch of Namban guards with dragons, but I get the most wonderment out of an odd Shakudo/golden dragon guard.

Chris Colman · February 10

My offering, Sandai Jingo, i can't find the tsubashi listed in Haynes or the Seiko books i have.

Mumei Kashira.

新年快乐

chris

Bugyotsuji · February 10

Chris, can you get a better angled shot on that Mei? 友壽(?) It just lacks sharpness of definition and focus.

Chris Colman · February 11

Hi Piers, How is this one?

I had it as Kageyama Tomohide

regards

chris

Bugyotsuji · February 11

Thanks Chris, sadly can't find the name here either, yet.

JohnTo · February 13

As its Chinese New Year I thought that I would post some Chinese dragons on a couple of Chinese? Nanban mask tsuba, rather than another Japanese version of a Chinese dragon. Like cast iron tsuba (no let’s not open that again) these tsuba invoke a lot of differing opinion as to where and when they were made.

The first of my tsuba is iron with four masks (lions, demons?) at the cardinal points and four dragons’ heads together with a tama jewel. The dragons appear to be both male (upside down at the bottom) and female (at the top). Each side is bordered by what are generally termed ‘Drawer Handles’. The black iron is highlighted by gold nunome, which may have been added in Japan?

The second of my tsuba is brass and only has two lion/demon masks at the top and bottom. There are still the four dragon heads, two females at the top with their mouths open (talking again?) and the two male dragons beneath with whiskers (this time the right way up). The two drawer handles have been replaced with four stylised dragons, each pair holding a tama jewel in their mouths. Comparing scratch marks on this tsuba with those from a Christie’s sale catalogue (1992), it almost certain that it the one from the Soame Jenyns collection

One look at the nakago ana on these tsuba tells you that these were not made for a Japanese sword or polearm. Most people seem to call these ‘Canton Tsuba’ and were made in China, starting in the Momoyama period (pre-1600) up to the late 18^th C. Others claim that the Dutch East India Company imported these from as far away as Shri Lanka (old Ceylon). This claim seems to be based upon the ‘Drawer Handles’ which look like the European sword guards and some examples (see photo from RB Caldwell Masterpieces) which seem to have VOC (Vrie Oostindiche Companie) around the seppa-dai (see photo). However, the ‘Drawer handles’ seems to have been used on Ming Dynasty guards and the VOC logo looks a bit ‘iffy’ to me.

IMHO, I believe these tsuba may have been taken from Korean polearms as war booty, during Hideyoshi’s campaigns (1592-1598). The Joseon Koreans and Ming Chinese were allies and were armed with the same weaponry. It seems unlikely to me that these tsuba would have been commercially exported from China to Japan with the knowledge that the nakago ana was the wrong shape and had to be modified. Later Nanban tsuba may have had fancy seppa-dai, but the nakago ana was a ‘Japanese shape’. I don’t have any corroborative evidence for this theory.

All the best, John