Ohno Kuruma tsuba (compared to Kanayama)

[Iaido dude]

My first Ohno tsuba (arrived this week) portrays the Kuruma or Dharma Wheel, a pictorial representation of the Noble Eightfold Path or Eight Right Paths, of Siddhartha Gautama (commonly known as the Buddha), and of walking the path to enlightenment. It is an ancient symbol, appearing since the time of early Buddhism in India. The Noble Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi (meditation). Through this practice one seeks to end ignorance and the cycle of rebirth. My collecting focus has recently narrowed even further to Owari Province tsuba of the Momoyama and Early Edo Period that depict zen buddhist beliefs and practices.

 

This tsuba has characteristic features of the Ohno category of early guards that dates to circa 1615 (plus/minus) during a transitional period between late Momoyama and the beginning of Early Edo periods. It is relatively small (we will come back to a comparison with big brother Kanayama), dramatically "dished" with an initial step off from the wide rim to the central motif that is itself further thinned as one proceeds to the seppa-dai, covered by every description of tekkotsu, and finished with tsuchime and perhaps yakite (not clear to me what this looks like). Each spoke of the wheel is thick, unlike the thinner ones I have seen in Early Edo examples of the kuruma motif. The paired half-quatrefoil hitsu-ana are well-formed with a bit of iron removed on that for the kogai. The overall effect is that of martial strength (yaki) married to Tea aesthetic principles including wabi, sabi, mono no aware, and yugen. 

 

Height 69 mm, Width 66.8 mm, Thickness 7 mm at mimi (4 mm at the seppa-dai).

 

 

 

Steve Wazsak challenged me to compare this representative early Ohno tsuba to Kanayama tsuba from which similar features were "borrowed." The smiths of these two categories working in Owari Province clearly developed their skills in the forging of iron, compositional elements, and motif designs while looking over each other's shoulders as it were. Ohno guards generally seem to be thicker and more substantial by virtue of a majority of the design rendered in positive silhouette. This becomes quite clear when my Ohno is compared with two Kanayama tsuba of the Momoyama Period, one of even smaller size comprised of double commas (published in Owari To Mikawa No Tanko, page 240), and a larger one with the motif of thunderbolts (Sasano Gold Book, #75). I would not consider the thunderbolt less powerful, but it is clearly more relaxed. It's not clear what forces were at play that led Ohno smiths to incorporate some changes to the sensibility of classic Kanayama tsuba. Perhaps this evolution was dictated by a change in taste during the transition to the Tokagawa confirmatory culture of the Early Edo, although the buddhist theme endures even while zen gives way to Confucianism. 

 

 

 

[Jake6500]

42 minutes ago, Iaido dude said:

My first Ohno tsuba (arrived this week) portrays the Karuma or Dharma Wheel, a pictorial representation of the Noble Eightfold Path or Eight Right Paths, of Siddhartha Gautama (commonly known as the Buddha), and of walking the path to enlightenment. It is an ancient symbol, appearing since the time early Buddhism in India. The Eightfold path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right samadhi (meditation). Through this practice one seeks to end ignorance and the cycle of rebirth. My collecting focus has recently narrowed even further to Owari Province tsuba of the Momoyama and Early Edo Period that depict zen buddhist beliefs and practices.

 

This tsuba has characteristic features of the Ohno category of early guards that dates to circa 1615 (plus/minus) during a transitional period between late Momoyama and the beginning of Early Edo periods. It is relatively small (we will come back to a comparison with big brother Kanayama), dramatically "dished" with an initial step off from the wide rim to the central motif that is itself further thinned as one proceeds to the seppa-dai, covered by every description of tekkotsu, and finished with tsuchime and perhaps yakite (not clear to me what this looks like). Each spoke of the wheel is thick, unlike the thinner ones I have seen in Early Edo proper. The paired half-quatrefoil hitsu-ana are well-formed with a bit of iron removed on that for the kogai. The overall effect is that of martial strength (yaki) married to Tea aesthetic principles including wabi, sabi, mono no aware, and yugen. 

 

Height 69 mm, Width 66.8 mm, Thickness 7 mm at mimi (4 mm at the seppa-dai).

 

 

 

Steve Wazsak challenged me to compare this representative early Ohno tsuba to Kanayama tsuba from which similar features were "borrowed." The smiths of these two categories working in Owari Province clearly developed their skills in the forging iron, composition, and motifs looking over each other's shoulders. Ohno guards generally seem to be thicker and more substantial by virtue of more positive silhouette. This becomes quite clear when my Ohno is compared with two Kanayama tsuba of the Momoyama Period, one of even smaller size comprised of double commas (published in Owari To Mikawa No Tanko, page 240), and a larger one with the motif of thunderbolts (Sasano Gold Book, #75). I would not consider the thunderbolt less powerful, but it is clearly more relaxed. It's not clear how the tsubako of this early Ohno changed the entire sensibility except that it may reflect the transition to a Tokagawa confirmatory culture of the Early Edo, although the buddhist theme endures even while zen gives way to Confucianism. 

 

 

 

 

An interesting post with some interesting tsuba. One thing I will say is that Confucianism had its place prior to the Tokugawa shogunate. It is extensively reflected in the samurai clan codes of the Azuchi-Momoyama period! 

 

You can clearly see the difference in thickness between the karmic wheel tsuba and its two counterparts. This observation gives me pause as it makes me wonder why the tsuba of the Momoyama period would be thinner given the assumed decline in practicality of tsuba over time. Perhaps this decline is not yet reflected in the Owari tsuba as it is from right at the start of the Edo Period and the last small conflicts such as the Winter and Summer sieges were either still taking place or had only just ended.

[Curran]

That is more like it.

D@mn nice example too.

    Lines between Kanayama and Ono often seem to blur.  

 

Another Ono-Kanayama attached.

 

[Jake6500]

36 minutes ago, Curran said:

That is more like it.

D@mn nice example too.

    Lines between Kanayama and Ono often seem to blur.  

 

Another Ono-Kanayama attached.

 

 

I'm wondering if the thickness of the outer ring specifically might be a way of distinguishing the two...

 

If so, this example would be in line with the other two on the left in Steve's photo, as distinct from the Guruma tsuba which has the thicker outer ring.

 

But this is just a silly uneducated theory on my part lol

 

The Guruma tsuba might also have a thicker outer ring simply because its theme is a literal wheel...

[Jake6500]

Some other examples conforming to this idea:

 

An NBTHK Hozon certified Ono school tsuba

 

https://nihonto.com/1-4-20/

 

 

A previous one from the forum:

 

 

 

This one says Ono school also but my (primitive) theory would suggest otherwise:

 

https://www.mandarin...no-school-ship-tsuba

 

 

 

[Iaido dude]

Thank, you all for your comments and for introducing these other examples of Ono tsuba, which I am actually familiar with from earlier NMB posts and seller sites, and have admired for so long. I think Jake's comment about a Confucian influence on the Buke during the Momoyama Period makes sense given the influences from within Asia and Europe. There is a general sense of newness, experimentation, and revitalization, but it is also a truism that the most revolutionary trends tend to be the most short-lived and easily extinguished. If Tea Culture provided the aesthetic scaffold for Kanayama/Owari category tsuba, then production would have been for as short a period as 40 years or so. There would be a transitional period both aesthetically sociopolitically between late Momoyama and earliest Early Edo. I think we are seeing a number of interesting developments in Ohno design and execution through this period. I do think that the thickness of the rim is an important distinction from Kanayama as well as the relatively large amount of positive silhouette, both of which combine to give a sense of solidity and weight. Just look at the one Steve sold on NMB--quite massive. The Kurumu wheel on many other Kanayama tsuba are quite narrow, so I am inclined to think that the wider wheel and thicker rim is intentional and consistent with being a distinguishing feature of Ohno tsuba. It also seems to me that Kanayama and Owari tsuba generally have less positive silhouette and narrower rims, but they importantly also tend to be square or at least rounded square. These are not the elegant rounded rims of other "schools." The square rim imparts, to my eye, more of a sense of the "quiet strength" of the samurai that Sasano wrote about, with Owari being exemplary in this regard. I agree with Jake that the ship tsuba sold on the Mandarin site is not representative of Ohno guards. I’m not averse to challenging shinsa. 

[Iaido dude]

I wonder if anyone can comment on the use of the terms kuruma and guruma, which are not obviously synonymous to me. Thanks. 

[SteveM]

I think its just a typo (or misunderstanding of the word?). 

 

Kuruma (車) means wheel*. Should always be a "k" sound when its used by itself. 

 

The hard "k" sound changes to a hard "g" sound when the word is used as a compound word, and is attached behind another word. 

Something like 源氏車 (Genji-guruma:"Genji" wagon wheel) or 風車 (kaza-guruma: windmill). 

 

* Also means "car", by the way. 

[Jake6500]

29 minutes ago, SteveM said:

I think its just a typo (or misunderstanding of the word?). 

 

Kuruma (車) means wheel*. Should always be a "k" sound when its used by itself. 

 

The hard "k" sound changes to a hard "g" sound when the word is used as a compound word, and is attached behind another word. 

Something like 源氏車 (Genji-guruma:"Genji" wagon wheel) or 風車 (kaza-guruma: windmill). 

 

* Also means "car", by the way. 

 

It is just because of my basic and limited knowledge of the Japanese language lol

 

I practiced Judo and just remembered that the throw named Kata-Guruma = "Shoulder Wheel" hence I have used Guruma instead of Kuruma...

 

Japanese is hard =/

[SteveM]

Ah - great example. 肩車 Kata-guruma (shoulder wheel).

[Bugyotsuji]

The Buddhist Wheel of the Law is also know as 法輪 Ho-rin.

 

 

[Iaido dude]

I’ve also seen kuruma as the name of a sword movement in Yagyu Ryo iaido, which is fascinating.

 

Steve, thanks for the clarification. 

[Curran]

As [more fluent in Japanese] Steve said, "The hard "k" sound changes to a hard "g" sound when the word is used as a compound word, and is attached behind another word.  "

Conservation of pronunciation? Korean has a lot of that too.

 

In Korean, it is more the K<->G  in depends on whom you ask and in what dialect.

The Korean Surname "Kang" is more "Gang".... but Kang looks better than Gang to most westerners. Same with "Kim", that some would pronounce more like "G(h)im", but Kim sure is easier than trying to hit between the K and G sounds.

 

[b.hennick]

Fuchi kashira and fuchigashira

They mean the same thing but when joined the k becomes a g

[Curran]

https://nihonto.com/1-4-20/      This one is likely not Ono. I was able to study for a long time.

It went to shinsa in that 2014 year of NBTHK tosogu team buggery.

I still think Probably 3rd gen Akasaka. Possibly 4th. It is sanmai construction and has Akasaka color/patina and texture outer iron.

 

Generally:

Be careful of old green papers for swords circa 1976-1979.

Be careful of tosogu Hozon papers from 2014--> (?) . Especially when it comes to Higo fittings.  They've gotten better, but sometimes there will be a tosogu shinsa with a lot of huh, what???

[PhoenixDude]

23 minutes ago, Curran said:

 

It went to shinsa in that 2014 year of NBTHK tosogu team buggery.

 

Generally:

...

Be careful of tosogu Hozon papers from 2014--> (?) . Especially when it comes to Higo fittings.  They've gotten better, but sometimes there will be a tosogu shinsa with a lot of huh, what???

I hand heard about this, what's the story regarding the nbthk deal?

[Steve Waszak]

Excellent thread, everyone.  

 

And excellent Ohno tsuba, Steve.  Congrats on the acquisition.  Very powerful oniguruma (not oniKuruma ) design.  For me, if a distinction between Kanayama and Ohno work resides in any one feature, it would be the massivenes of the form of Ohno works.  Kanayama tsuba can be just as powerful in their own way, but are often a bit more elegant and evocative in their Tea sensibilities.  

 

Really enjoying the discussion here... 

[Iaido dude]

1 hour ago, Curran said:

https://nihonto.com/1-4-20/      This one is likely not Ono. I was able to study for a long time.

It went to shinsa in that 2014 year of NBTHK tosogu team buggery.

I still think Probably 3rd gen Akasaka. Possibly 4th. It is sanmai construction and has Akasaka color/patina and texture outer iron.

 

Generally:

Be careful of old green papers for swords circa 1976-1979.

Be careful of tosogu Hozon papers from 2014--> (?) . Especially when it comes to Higo fittings.  They've gotten better, but sometimes there will be a tosogu shinsa with a lot of huh, what???

The smaller kogai hitsu-ana would be foreign to Ohno, but in keeping with Akasaka. Did the 4th generation use sanmai construction? I was under the impression that the 4th generation master managed to take this tradition to another level and that sanmai contruction was a technique used on inferior and "production line" tsuba.

[Iaido dude]

18 minutes ago, Steve Waszak said:

Excellent thread, everyone.  

 

And excellent Ohno tsuba, Steve.  Congrats on the acquisition.  Very powerful oniguruma (not oniKuruma ) design.  For me, if a distinction between Kanayama and Ohno work resides in any one feature, it would be the massivenes of the form of Ohno works.  Kanayama tsuba can be just as powerful in their own way, but are often a bit more elegant and evocative in their Tea sensibilities.  

 

Really enjoying the discussion here... 

Thanks for your guidance on this Ohno. The one that you pointed out to me from Eckhart's book is actually larger and thicker, although misattributed to Hoan. It also has a rounded rim, which may have pointed Echkart to Hoan. If he is correct that it was possibly a Yagyu motif produced in the Genroku Period, then it is more recent that my Ohno kuruma. I've been confused about the possible transition from what I believe to be a buddhist symbol of the path to enlightenment to an oniguruma (devil's wheel) unless it is has been co-opted to represent a Yagyu sword school technique. That makes some sense. From my limited experience from published sources, there is little if any hint of religious iconography in the Yagyu tsuba tradition.

 

[Soshin]

1 hour ago, Iaido dude said:

I've been confused about the possible transition from what I believe to be a buddhist symbol of the path to enlightenment to an oniguruma (devil's wheel) unless it is has been co-opted to represent a Yagyu sword school technique. That makes some sense. From my limited experience from published sources, there is little if any hint of religious iconography in the Yagyu tsuba tradition.

 

This is likely what happened as many if not all Yagyu tsuba were made locally in Owari Province. The oniguruma (devil's wheel) design is one of the original thirty-six core designs done by Yagyu Renyasai Yoshikane (1625-1694 CE). He was the fourth-generation headmaster of the Yagyu Shinkage Ryu mainline in Owari Provience. It is design number twenty-three and is referred to as (oniguruma 鬼車 ). I am getting some of this information from Haynes Yagyu design book per Jim Gilbert's information in a publication in 2014 for the American branch of the NBTHK.    

[Iaido dude]

Thanks, David. I was reading earlier today the passage in Owari To Mikawa No Tanko about the 36 core designs. Tsuba based on these seem to have been the product of a collaboration between Renya as designer and possibly numerous tsuba craftsman working in both Edo and Owari including "Yamakichibei, Toda, Fukui, Tokai, or Ono Fukushige." In Owari To Mikawa, the Yagyu oniguruma design is slightly different than my Ohno tsuba in that the spoke and wave motifs appear to cohabitat in the ji-sukashi design (wave as an option only??) and there are distinct kogai and kozuka hitsu-ana. Overall, though, the similarity is clear. 

 

[Jake6500]

36 minutes ago, Iaido dude said:

Thanks, David. I was reading earlier today the passage in Owari To Mikawa No Tanko about the 36 core designs. Tsuba based on these seem to have been the product of a collaboration between Renya as designer and possibly numerous tsuba craftsman working in both Edo and Owari including "Yamakichibei, Toda, Fukui, Tokai, or Ono Fukushige." In Owari To Mikawa, the Yagyu oniguruma design is slightly different than my Ohno tsuba in that the spoke and wave motifs appear to cohabitat in the ji-sukashi design (wave as an option only??) and there are distinct kogai and kozuka hitsu-ana. Overall, though, the similarity is clear. 

 

 

I was curious but god dam, that is one expensive book!

 

On the one hand all indications are that it is worth the money, on the other hand I could buy a whole extra tsuba instead 

[Curran]

5 hours ago, Iaido dude said:

The smaller kogai hitsu-ana would be foreign to Ohno, but in keeping with Akasaka. Did the 4th generation use sanmai construction? I was under the impression that the 4th generation master managed to take this tradition to another level and that sanmai contruction was a technique used on inferior and "production line" tsuba.

 

No, not quite.

What started out with very good iron outside and a thin core layer of lesser iron would eventually become a thick core of lesser iron and the better outer iron would be very thin.

In the earliest use of it, it makes for quite a good robust tsuba in the 3rd and 4th generation.

 

The Nihonto.com tsuba is a very good tsuba, but I think the NBTHK papers to Ono are daft.

That is my opinion. To me that tsuba was screaming 3rd or 4th gen Akasaka.

 

[DKR]

Back to the topic of Kuruma.......I like this motif too.

In the picture you can see my two Tsuba on the topic.

Left side Hozon paper "Ono" dimensions 73mm x 72mm, rim is 7mm thick.

Right side, no papers yet, dimensions 78.5mm x 77.5mm, rim is 8mm thick

I have read opinions about the right Tsuba and heard that it might be a Kanayama Tsuba.

But there is too little of the Tekkotsu typical of Kanayama to be seen here. The material looks a bit "sandy" but also has structure.
I see something like that more in Ono and not in Kanayama.

I personally believe that it could be an Ono Tsuba.

If I put the two Tsuba directly next to each other, they are very similar in many ways......but who am I to determine which Tsuba comes from which school.

I don't care, to be honest......for me they are both good Tsuba that I enjoy a lot.

 

[Rodenbacher]

I bought this Tsuba in Japan some years ago, it's papered to Ono, but I'm still not sure about the attribution. It's bold an powerful and full of Tekkotsu, so it might be true, but it looks rather different to the other Ono Tsuba posted above. 

 

Height 71mm

Width 68mm

6mm thick

 

Regards 

Peter 

[Rodenbacher]

This photo depicts the true color of the iron much better. 

[Soshin]

10 hours ago, Iaido dude said:

Tsuba based on these seem to have been the product of a collaboration between Renya as designer and possibly numerous tsuba craftsman working in both Edo and Owari including "Yamakichibei, Toda, Fukui, Tokai, or Ono Fukushige."

 

I remember reading the same thing in various references, I have never seen any tsuba with a Yagyu design with a signature or other design features that would point to an Edo (Musashi Province) production versus an Owari Province production. Please someone post a photo of one it would be nice to study such an example.   

[Curran]

6 hours ago, Rodenbacher said:

This photo depicts the true color of the iron much better. 

 

Grey dark metal on the rough wet sand side of things?

Nice tekkotsu on the outside and possibly one or two divet fissures?

 

Partially due to hunting porcini and other funghi when I was younger, this remains one of my favorite designs.

It almost always gets attributed to Ono, and I have seen 3 or 4 Ono papered examples over the last 20-25 years.

 

Jim Gilbert offered me his 'hammer' water wheel Ono when I was relatively a new collector. Like a dummy, I passed on it.

I'd been waiting for another of these "mushroom" or one of the 'hammer' water wheel ones to pop up.

I finally bought one of the 'hammer' water wheels last year.

 

[Iaido dude]

 

David, it was just a comment in Owari To Mikawa that since Renya ordered swords from the Edo swordsmith Mitsusune, "it is by no means out of the question that the ground plates were made by this craftsman who also resided in Edo...when looking at the works themselves, it seems that not all the ground plates were made by the same craftsmen." And this is when he notes that other tsuba craftsmen working in the Owari fief at that time may also have produced the Yagyu tsuba. I think that the latter is most likely given that the Shinkage-ryo was based in Owari Province.

 

Curran, thanks for clarifying the sanmei process.

 

Didier, you are a man after my own heart. It has been noted more than once and in different sources and by different NMB members that at the time of Owari Province tsuba production during the period of interest in these discussions, tsuba "schools" did not exist. By inductive reasoning, starting from observations about the features of a small number of examples make in a short period of time, we begin to come to some sense of rough "categories" of tsuba production that we call Owari, Kanayama, and Ohno. These beautiful tsuba don't care what we call them. The danger, it seems to me, is that in more recent history, tsuba scholars have come to some conclusions that have then become adopted as dogma, sensei-ism, and iemoto-ism. To my mind, what Curran has done us all a favor in doing, is to use inductive reasoning to challenge NBTHK attribution to the Ohno category of a tsuba that has the hallmarks of the first 4 generations of Akasaka. As a clinician-scientist, my job is to advance medical knowledge and understanding in light of new data and methodologies. Theories and speculations are meant to be supported or debunked--at least I would hope so.

[Iaido dude]

8 hours ago, Rodenbacher said:

I bought this Tsuba in Japan some years ago, it's papered to Ono, but I'm still not sure about the attribution. It's bold an powerful and full of Tekkotsu, so it might be true, but it looks rather different to the other Ono Tsuba posted above. 

 

Height 71mm

Width 68mm

6mm thick

 

Regards 

Peter 

 

Steve and I have been looking at this big "Kanayama," but is more likely Ohno. I think it has a strong design, but the condition is a bit questionable. Apparently, this seller is not reliable. What a shame, as this may be something that Curran has been waiting for...

https://www.jauce.com/auction/c1148388246