Tachi tsuba, Muromachi, the real thing

Marius · April 8, 2024

Gents,

While it is probably easy to find tsuba which were mounted on tachi koshirae in the late Edo or Meiji period, this tsuba is a whole different story.

It is a tachi or kodachi tuba, made of bronze, which has been gilded once, as can be seen thanks to some remnants. While the guard is small, it is heavy and its large nakago ana points at a substantial blade. A small tsuba mounted on a long blade has often been the custom in the turbulent Sengoku period.

This tsuba is likely to date back to mid-Muromachi period, late 15th century. Measurements are:
6.7 x 6.3 x 0.6cm
Nakago ana 3.15 high 0.9 wide

Tsuba of this style are described by some collectors as "Northern", which I think is due to the fact that there have been tachi tsuba of this style excavated together with some Emishi-to in Hiraizumi, the capital of the Northern Fujiwara. Also, the much used (and abused) term Ezo is often applied to early tachi tsuba. I attach a pic from a Japanese magazine showing the excavated guards (and swords).

In any case, this here is a wonderful tachi tsuba the type of which is very hard to find. It is small, so pne can speculate it was used on a kodachi or even a naginata (yes, naginata did have this type of tsuba).

You can also find some tachi tsuba in this thread, with excellent photographs by Richard George (two of those tsuba were once in my collection, BTW):

https://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/38844-tachi-tsuba/

please scroll down to see the tachi tsuba.

$1,650 incl. shipping to Europe and US. Wire transfer please (either $ to a bank in the US or € to a bank in the EU).