Shoami (?) tsuba

[Robert S]

I had previously shared a photo of this tsuba in a post about the wakizashi I recently acquired, but I have some specific questions about it  It's a copper alloy (shakudo) tsuba with a Shoami mei.

 

 

Does the shape of the Nakago ana indicate that this was previously mounted on a sword worn edge down, or is there another reason for this shape?

 

Does this work look like a Shoami piece?  Is it possible that if it was converted from edge down mounting to edge up mounting, it was signed by the Shoami artisan that did the conversion?

 

Any thoughts on the form of the "mi" character?  I have seen this alternate form of the simplified character on a couple of tsuba attributed to the Iyo branch of Shoami.

 

 

 

Thanks for all thoughts and wisdom!

 

Robert S

[MauroP]

A classical ko-kinkō tsuba, the waves design clearly would lose coherence if mounted on a edge-down blade. The signature looks quite amatourish in its quality, so mayby someone has carved it as a personal (and wrong) attribution. Just my hypotesis.

[Spartancrest]

I don't think the tsuba was inverted it just shows signs of having been modified to fit a larger sword.

[Robert S]

Mauro:  I thought ko-kinko as well.  It's odd that whoever put the shoami mei on it used the alternate form of the last character.  Mysteries! 

 

Dale:  That's great - really helps understand that shape!

 

Robert