Tsuba Kakihan

[Clive Sinclaire]

Gentlemen

I have a tsuba that has the attached Kakihan on the seppa-dai but has no other inscription. I wonder if anyone can tell me who it may be?

Thanking you in advance ans Season's Greetings to all.

Clive Sinclaire

[John A Stuart]

Hi Clive, It reminds me of Hamano Kaneyuki's kakihan, however I am sure I'm probably incorrect. John

[Ted Tenold]

Hi Clive,

 

Maybe the obvious question, but have you looked in the Shosankenshu? If you don't have a copy I can look in mine. Other members here may also have copies. Can you post a picture of the tsuba as well? This might help narrow down the maker by work style instead of paging through hundreds of kakihan. Other more fittings oriented (no pun intended ) members might recognize the work and kakihan more readily than I.

[John A Stuart]

Truthfully this doesn't look well incised. There are hundreds of kakihan, but, having done some study lately on Shozui and Kenzui it struck me as similar. I went into the Kinko Meikan for examples. When you compare the flowing chisel work of Kaneyuki is obviously better done. I leave your judgement on whether this is a forgery of Kaneyuki's kao or some other artist. John

[Clive Sinclaire]

Gentlemen

I thought I had posted a further note but it appears I made some mistake and it seems to have been lost in the ether, so here goes again.

Thanks for the offer Ted but I have Shosankenshu and spent most of this afternoon buried in it. There is indeed some passing similarity with Hamano Kaneyuki but there are variations. I am also sorry to say that the piece does not approach the quality of Kaneyuki.

What fascinated me was the fact that there was a Kakihan with no "supporting" inscription or mei, something I do not believe that I have encountered before although, not being a student of tsuba, this might simply be a lack of experience. Is this common or could it be associated with a particular school ?

As requested, I attach a full picture of the piece which I am reasonably sure dates from the Bakamatsu period.

Regards

Clive

[John A Stuart]

It crops up now and again, especially in gold. I am unfamiliar with the style this tsuba is in. Is the plate shibuichi? I like the colour. Not much, the carving or tokin. John

[Clive Sinclaire]

Is the plate shibuichi? I like the colour.

John

The plate is shakudo, I also attach a picture of the ura.

Clive

[John A Stuart]

Clive I was looking through the NBTHK #635, the last received and noticed a group of tsuba that are in the style of yours. Katakiribori/kebori and tokin. The ones illustrated show a workmanship similar although more refined. This doesn’t help with who yours was made by, but, may illustrate the school as possibly being late Umetada (Edo) school. If you have this issue the pics are on pg. 24. Tsuba #23 and #24. The translation is mine so it may be inconsistent. John

#23

立田川の図鐔 Tatsutagawa no Zu Tsuba drawing on tsuba of Tatsutagawa

銘 Mei inscription

埋忠重義 Umetada Shigeyoshi

#24

源水に花文の図鐔 Gensui Hana Mon no Zu Tsuba drawing on tsuba of flowers and crest in water

銘 Mei inscription

埋忠童義 Umetada Shigeyoshi

[Brian]

What fascinated me was the fact that there was a Kakihan with no "supporting" inscription or mei, something I do not believe that I have encountered before although, not being a student of tsuba, this might simply be a lack of experience. Is this common or could it be associated with a particular school ?..

Clive,

Here is mine...

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1762

Never did work out who did it, but seems a kakihan alone was not that unusual.

 

Brian

[Clive Sinclaire]

Hi John and Brian

Thanks for your help on this one. I do have the To-ken Bijutsu memtioned and there are certainly similarities. I guess it will have to go into shinsa at some time but I have about 30 more that would probably preceed it! Hope you are all enjoying Boxing Day

Regards

Clive

[IanB]

Clive, Whilst I agree with you that a kakihan on its own is not common on sword furniture, it seems to be the rule on saddles and similar craftsmen. I once was invited to look at the excavations on the site of Date Masamune's castle, and each stone making up the retaining walls was marked with a kao on the surface buried in the earth fill.

Ian Bottomley

[John A Stuart]

Here is a Kenjo tsuba on sale that has only the kakihan. Papered. Not really uncommon. John

[Bazza]

Gentle Folk,

FWIW here is fuchi I have with a single kakihan for a mei. The other two that came with it in the same box (no kashira) have YASUCHIKA as a mei. Dr Torigoye's hakogaki on the box gives the opinion that these three fuchi are by YASUCHIKA I. This opinion has yet to be tested at a modern Shinsa. The 'qun' at the end of the filename means 'question mark'. This is the only kakihan mei I can recall seeing in my collecting career.

Regards,

Barry Thomas.

[Clive Sinclaire]

Here is a Kenjo tsuba on sale that has only the kakihan. Papered. Not really uncommon. John

I am not really sure that the gold seal on your fine tsuba would be classed as a kakihan.

Clive

[Ford Hallam]

John

 

I would have to agree with Clive, the kenjo tsuba you've shown sports a seal not a kao.

 

Incidentally, kao/kakihan (monograms) are typically derived from a single kanji of the artists mei. The abstraction follows semi-formal conventions. My own teacher told me there are 3 basic formats in terms of overall shape.

The type bounded by 2 horizontal lines, like the one on Clive's tsuba and the Yasuchika one of Barry's being quite different styles.

 

Lovely kuchi/kashira by the way, Barry. I'd certainly have no qualms about accepting them as easily convincing enough to be my the master. The chidori ishime ground, the colour of the shinchu and the soft ( very distinctive) modelling of the brush are all exactly as one would expect...in my opinion.

 

regards,

 

Ford

[Bazza]

 

Lovely kuchi/kashira by the way, Barry. I'd certainly have no qualms about accepting them as easily convincing enough to be by the master. The chidori ishime ground, the colour of the shinchu and the soft ( very distinctive) modelling of the brush are all exactly as one would expect...in my opinion.

 

regards,

 

Ford

 

Ford,

 

Thanks very much for your opinion. I'm encouraged to photograph the other two fuchi and the hakogaki for interest. It will take me a few days and I'll put them up on a new thread. Look out for "TWO YASUCHIKA FUCHI & HAKOGAKI"

 

Regards,

Barry Thomas.

[John A Stuart]

Hi Clive and Ford, Just to clarify the use of the word 'kakihan', 書き判 【かきはん】 (n) signature or written seal at the end of a document. The stylised seals found on porcelain, ukiyoe and metalwork etc. are all called kakihan. Whereas 'kao' 花押 【かおう】 (n-t) signature (not stamp), is a particular form of kakihan. BTW, a lot of people translate kao as 顔 'face' which is incorrect. I have always ascribed to this and if incorrect would like to know. John