Tsuba help

[Mark C]

Hi All,

 

This tsuba is from my latest sword buy, Would be nice to try and identify it. As I know very little regarding tsuba, Could I please ask for a little help?

 

Material - soft (Copper?)

Width - 2.5"

Height - 2 7/8"

Subject - I believe it is a heron over waves with sea shells.

 

The nanako isn't the best I've seen.

 

Thanks in advance.

[MauroP]

Hi Mark, your tsuba looks legit to me, possibly a ko-kinkō piece made in nigurome. Unfortunately the golden coloring seems an amatourish attempt to revitalize a weared gilt.
All the best, Mauro

[Spartancrest]

The bird reminds me more of a Mandarin duck.   But what would a duck be doing at sea?

 

  I am not sure what this bird is, duck body, seagull head?

 

Mark does your guard have a fukurin or is it all the same material with carved integral rim? Also is the opposite side the same design? Could it be Sanmai?

[Mark C]

Thanks Dale and Mauro,

 

Tsuba does have a fukurin and is non magnetic. I have looked at the inside of the Nakago ana and can see  evidence of three layers so i would say construction is sanmai. Opposite side below:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Spartancrest]

Thanks Mark, the ura view gives me even more confidence the bird is a duck - short legs, upturned tail and wing tips.  I wonder if other examples with this pattern will turn up?

 

   Maybe not this particular one    [Hokusai might not be impressed!]

[MauroP]

 

鴛鴦図鐔 - oshidori no zu tsuba

from https://blog.goo.ne....1d33ed38de37dc7ff5ed

[Bugyotsuji]

The first ‘mirror-image’ sanmai tsuba might be by a Kagami-shi.
Oshidori are almost always shown in pairs as a symbol of marital fidelity. A loving married couple might be described as ‘oshidori fūfu’.

[Rodenbacher]

Here is my very similar San Mai Tsuba with a pair of ducks on one side. On the other side there is only a single duck shown. 

 

Also note the rather worn gilding at this one. 

[Rodenbacher]

[Mark C]

Thanks Everyone, I have learnt a lot regarding this tsuba.

 

On the subject of ducks, could the other shape be a Diving duck?

I only say this as I have read that normally they are in pairs and on my tsuba I only have one complete duck on each side plus one of each shape?.

 

Regards

[Rodenbacher]

I don't think so. As you can see on the one side of my Tsuba, it was unusual but not completely impossible to depict a single duck. I can't see any proof of a diving duck in your Tsuba. The other shapes shown there are depictions of clams, shells and mussels. A very common topic at this period for describing a seashore, like at this one here:

[Bugyotsuji]

Peter, when you say 'at this period' do you mean a specific time, or generally within the Edo Period, for example?

[Rodenbacher]

I mean the Momoyama and Muromachi period, later in the Edo period the depiction of mussels etc. became more realistic. (But there are exceptions, as always...)