Share your early iron tosogu

[Ron M]

This is one of the “alleged” momoyama period Rope Mimi tsuba in my collection.Nice and thick! 🤣

[ROKUJURO]

A small KO-SHOAMI TSUBA, I think pre EDO JIDAI:

 

[Ed]

4 hours ago, Curran said:

It doesn't seem I have any photos of my Bell Owari.

@Ed would like that one. I've been meaning to submit it to shinsa for a few years now, but I'm not so keen on shinsa time and opinions these days.

 

To further encourage the love for Ono tsuba, I'm posting an old favorite Tokugawa mon Ono.

It is one of those with narly woodknot shaped tottetsu along the mimi.

 

 

 

I remember this one. Very nice.

[Iaido dude]

21 hours ago, Ed said:

2.42" x 2.41" x 0.20"

It's a bit thin for Ono.

[Ed]

On 11/1/2024 at 3:14 PM, Iaido dude said:

It's a bit thin for Ono.

 

You would have to take that up with the NBTHK. Their call was Ono.

[Ed]

One more with Temple Bells.

 

[Ed]

Kofun period Toran Kei

 

[ROKUJURO]

KO-KACHUSHI TSUBA  83,5 x 3 mm, SUHAMA motif:

 

 

 

[Tim Evans]

Mid-size tosho, multilobe mokko shape. The use of repetition and alternation shows a more sophisticated design than what is typical. It does not seem to be a ka-mon. The narrow hitsuana indicates a mid-Muromachi timeframe. 

[ROKUJURO]

Gentlemen,

I don't like bad photos, but erroneously I posted one myself (above). I cannot correct that, so I apologize; hopefully this one is better:
 

[Ed]

2 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

hopefully this one is better:

It does make your tsuba look much better.

[Ed]

Ko-Katchushi

 

 

[Bugyotsuji]

On 10/24/2024 at 4:24 AM, Ed said:

Love it.
Age etc., very different, but a tsuba with some thematic similarity?

 

 

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Piers,

the KOZUKA is probably very special and rare. While the gold dot just fills in the NAKAGO-ANA, the gold dot on the TSUBA might represent sun or moon, I believe. Looks indeed close!

[Bugyotsuji]

The sun in Japan is traditionally rendered as red, almost on an automatic subconscious level. 
 

I did a little experiment at college with a class of Japanese and some overseas students. I laid out chalks of various colo(u)rs, and called on students to come up and draw a scene (which happened to include the sun). The Japanese students all reached for the red chalk, whereas the Westerners chose yellow.

 

In the present tsuba Jean, I am guessing that the choice of copper akagane 銅, 素銅suaka (or 山銅 yamagane) means the tsubakō was envisioning the sun.

https://ameblo.jp/o-...try-12170960771.html

[Ed]

1 hour ago, Bugyotsuji said:

The sun in Japan is traditionally rendered as red, almost on an automatic subconscious level. 

 

Piers, I think you are correct in that the Japanese preference for the sun is red, much as the moon is generally seen in silver.  It seems as with so many things in this hobby nothing is set in stone. Obviously there were additional colors seen in their representations of the sun, such as gold and others. Likely a variety of reasons. It is a very precise and time consuming process to produce that deep red seen on some kodogu.

 

Viewing your tsuba, do you think the insert was once plated with gold or silver or do you think the copper was the original look? Looking at it enlarged I can't tell for certain, but it seems to show traces of a light color (silver?) at the top and bottom. Perhaps it was originally depicting the moon. ???

 

I think the gold plug on my kozuka was to give it a little bling. I would have preferred something a bit more subtle, but......

 

[Geraint]

Dear All.

 

This has been and continues to be a wonderful thread.  Thank you to all for sharing your treasures.

 

I have to say that the gakumei kozuka that Ed shared is quite something and I think Jean has it right, the gold is simply a way of making something of the nakago ana but it certainly adds to the piece.

 

All the best.

[Bugyotsuji]

No I hadn’t considered that Ed, but what you say makes sense. Perhaps it was a silver moon. I’ll have a closer look tomorrow.

 

The sun on an iron background did seem rather harsh, almost as if the artisan had once been a prisoner of war in Siberia.

[ROKUJURO]

This TSUBA is not really a treasure, it is corroded and has a crack. I purchased it just for the KUCHINASHI no HANA design which I find pleasing. There seem to be remains of black lacquer on it, the other side is still more corroded. I hope it fits into this thread of early (= pre EDO) iron TOSOGU.

To avoid the usual defining categories as suggested in the other thread, I see this design possibly as (early?) OWARI province style, but the TSUBA measures 82,5 mm with a thickness of only 4,8 mm (SEPPA-DAI).

What do you think?

[Ed]

12 hours ago, Bugyotsuji said:

No I hadn’t considered that Ed, but what you say makes sense. Perhaps it was a silver moon. I’ll have a closer look tomorrow.

Cool. Let us know what you find.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Belated apologies in advance for serious thread drift. 
 

Just a quick reply to Ed. Examined it in sunlight but found not a trace of silver. In the photos I took though, you can see faint scratches in the surface of the iron in close proximity around the sun/moon. Were these caused during a process of removing silver, or are they evidence of a rust removal session? Hmmm…

 

Now back to the “Any old iron?” topic!