Mystery Sukashi Tsuba

[Iaido dude]

I was rummaging around in a closet and came upon a case that I had not opened since 2005 when I relocated from Singapore back to Boston. It contains a small number of Sudoku tsuba (I will post separately) that I acquired while still in Singapore, including a daisho. I vaguely recall buying them probably on eBay. I must have been interested in them because of a general interest in Japanese culture. I certainly was not a tsuba “collector”—perhaps until now. 

 

There is a final oddball sukashi tsuba. I don’t remember this one at all. Any thoughts on what this tsuba is (school, period, fake)? Surface is irregular, dark brown patina. It has some rust in several places. A part of the nakago-ana is missing. 

 

66, 4.7-4.85 at rounded square rim, 4.6 at mimi (not accurate by my caliper that is not suited for measuring this dimension)

 

[Kanenaga]

Kanayama?

[Iaido dude]

It has the dimensions in the range of kanayama and motifs are characteristic, but it doesn’t seem to have been well cared for and/or it has suffered damage. 

[Steve Waszak]

Certainly appears to have the features associated with Kanayama work:  prominent tekkotsu, smaller dimensions, a yakite finish to the surface (though the condition of the guard, perhaps due to rust damage, makes it harder to be sure about the finish), symmetry in design, motif, and rim structure.  As you note, Steve, the tsuba's condition is less-than-ideal.  Not sure what, if anything, might be done to improve this.  Some gentle ivorying may have a positive effect.  Nice tsuba in many ways, though.   

[Winchester]

Looks like Kanayama and it's really nice. If you bought that randomly off of eBay, you certainly have a good eye. Cool. 

[Iaido dude]

None of the flaws detract from my enjoyment and learning. Thanks, Steve 

[ROKUJURO]

In hand, this old TSUBA is probably much nicer than on these less-than-perfect photos.....

I am a bit envious because I never find KANAYAMA TSUBA forgotten in a case in the closet!

[Iaido dude]

 

😂 Beginners luck. Eat your heart out!

[ROKUJURO]

23 hours ago, Iaido dude said:

.....66, 4.7-4.85 at rounded square rim, 4.6 at mimi....

Purely out of interest: MIMI is the rim. Did you perhaps mean to write 4,6 mm on the SEPPA-DAI?  

[Iaido dude]

Yes, exactly. 4.6 at the seppa-dai. Still getting the hang of it. Thanks so much. 

[Iaido dude]

I think the motif on either side of the seppa-dai is bottle gourds in negative silhouette. What is the motif on top and bottom. The negative silhouette is not a circle. It is pointed on the side facing the seppa-dai. Maybe a mon or some kind of flower petal?

[FlorianB]

Hi Steve,

I think the forms to the right and left are drawer handles plus rings, at the top and bottom maybe warabite (fern sprouts) facing each other.

Best, Florian

[Spartancrest]

I agree with the drawer handles but wonder if the small motifs are myoga "ginger" like a variation on this Owari guard? 

[Bugyotsuji]

蕨手文様 - 検索 画像 (bing.com)

 

Page full of warabite motifs

[BIG]

Design reminds me, two monkey dolls and two mon..

 

https://www.giuseppe...ba-four-monkey-dolls

 

 

[Iaido dude]

Thanks, gentlemen. I have been traveling, so forgive this delayed reply.

We have drawer handles, monkey dolls, and bottle gourds (see below). 

 

 

I suppose that I should not be surprised that these motifs are subject to our attempts at symbolic interpretation since it is precisely characteristic of Kanayama tsuba, especially in the Momoyama and early Edo periods, to be geometric and symmetrical in a manner that defies all attempts to ascribe meaning to them. I have this impulse to find a meaning, but I am also reminded of the Japanese aesthetic principles of this same period such as sabi, wabi, and yuugen and how they are brought to bear to achieve a combined sense of stark power as it manifests in a guard mounted on the sword of a samurai warrior going into battle. 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

'Bottle gourd' is a generic and recognizable shape. For example the iron ingots which came in on Namban ships, susequently used in Japanese swords and guns for a while at the beginning of Edo, were described as gourd-shaped.　南蛮鉄　瓢箪形

Also, many priming powder flasks take that shape, and today you can find containers of Shichimi (red peppers) made of wood but in 'bottle gourd' shape.

 

Actually, just to take a moment here, I have a problem with the expression 'drawer handle' shape, as the handles themselves (and other common objects) are and were describing older traditional shapes. Otherwise a drawer handle is a drawer handle is a drawer handle, shades of Ikea. They need to look a little fancy. For example, opposed fern heads, or warabite design 蕨手模様

[FlorianB]

Example for drawer handles on a traditional tansu (seen on https://www.van-ham.com/de/kuenstler/1/zweiteiliges-isho-kasane-dansu.html):

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Got about 10 of these chests, 'LOVE EM! 

[Iaido dude]

There seems to be a noticeable gradient from abstraction to more realistic representations of motifs over time. For example the single monkey doll motif is very abstracted and stark in the Ko-Katchushi piece in Sasano’s gold book (plate 10, early Muromachi). Today, we might appreciate it as modern abstract painting in a gallery. In his commentary the meaning is culturally referenced to that historical time so that it is understood symbolically and intentionally by and for the elite warrior class. Then by the Middle Edo period the smiths in Owari are fashioning increasingly realistic and busy compositions (2 circles now fused, and we have presence of more) for a peacetime and sentimental merchant class. 

[Iaido dude]

Here is a previously sold signed Yamakichibei plate from Grey Doffin’s website. The only feature that would make this more beautiful would be absence of hitsu-ana (this is a later generation smith most likely).

 

[Steve Waszak]

Yes, this is the smith classically identified as the "Yondai," or "fourth generation."  In my view, this smith worked many decades after the original Yamakichibei smiths of the Momoyama years, and probably is not directly related to those early men.  However, an association between this "Yondai" artist and the smith referred to as "Sakura Yamakichibei" (erroneously labeled the "Sandai") is fairly likely.  Both worked in the late-17th century, I believe.  

[Tim Evans]

20 hours ago, Iaido dude said:

There seems to be a noticeable gradient from abstraction to more realistic representations of motifs over time.

Good observation. Similar ideas are discussed in the Nihonto Koza, Volume VI, as translated by Afu, in the section called Token Kinko Gaisetsu by Kuwabara Yojiro. He is using Goto fittings as an example, but I think these presentation trends apply generally to other sword fittings as well. The pertinent section starts at page 357 and discusses three changes over time: Formal Period (pre-Edo), Stylistic Period (early Edo), and Realistic Period (mid to late Edo). Another motif classification system relates to the rank and use of images. These are Formal, Semi-formal, and Informal. The tea-ish treatment of the plate would indicate the tsuba was used on an informal koshirae.

 

I agree the design elements are drawer handles. In regard to Sasano’s ideas about the monkey dolls design, I think he was mistaken, and this sukashi image depicts a deteriorated mushroom. The small hole is the stem, and the bigger hole is the flopped over head. It may refer to Buddhist ideas about impermanence, change, and process. See a Higo kinko example below. 

[Iaido dude]

In Donald Richie’s wonderful little book (gigantic in my reading) “A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics,” he writes about the tripartite formula of formal-semi formal-informal that is called shin-guo-so used to describe “mood” or a specific setting in which we are engaged in, for example, tea ceremony, flower arrangement, calligraphy. Steve introduced me to this and other books on Japanese aesthetics developed in the activity of tea ceremony. Tim’s comment about Buddhist ideas of impermanence is tied to the aesthetic principles of sabi and mono no aware—a kind of bitter sweet quality that we may appreciate and experience as a beautiful. 

[Iaido dude]

22 hours ago, Steve Waszak said:

Yes, this is the smith classically identified as the "Yondai," or "fourth generation."  In my view, this smith worked many decades after the original Yamakichibei smiths of the Momoyama years, and probably is not directly related to those early men.  However, an association between this "Yondai" artist and the smith referred to as "Sakura Yamakichibei" (erroneously labeled the "Sandai") is fairly likely.  Both worked in the late-17th century, I believe.  

 

Grey’s commentary also indicates that a noted collector was convinced it was crafted by Yondai. 

[Tim Evans]

When I was first starting out, a more advanced collector mentioned that he thought kanayama tsuba (and other types of tea influenced tsuba) were "400 year old abstract expressionist sculptures". By which he meant the process of making was visible and not completely finished. I found that a remarkable idea that the Japanese had developed an advanced aesthetic language that visually paralleled what was happening in the 1950's New York art scene.

[Iaido dude]

Gentleman, I just got my copy of Owari To Mikawa No Tanko. Plate #240 is actually my tsuba. The groove in the nakago-ana really clinches the identification. Unbelievable.

 

I think it actually speaks well of the commentator that the discussion is on the composition and integration of the large motifs into the hisu-ana and as a connective element of the rim. Rather than the meaning of the motifs, there is discussion of the features of the forging process.

 

Thanks again for your contributions to this thread. I've learned so much.