Skulls, bones, and grave markers—An interesting tsuba

[brentlewiis]

Submitted for consideration is this tsuba, which might be found interesting for a number of reasons.  Please forgive my poor photographic skills.  I am told the mei might read “Bungo ju Kikuhiro Masahira.”  I am at a loss regarding the “grass writing” inlay but am guessing that it is a poem by Basho or Buson.  The color of the metal is interesting, and looks like it might have been partially ‘cleaned.’ Any discussion would be welcome.

[Dan tsuba]

Hi Lucian!

 

Nice and interesting tsuba!

 

The Seigaiha Diaper design (the interlocking circle design on the seppa-dia) may indicate that it is a Namban type tsuba.

 

I refer you to page 76-78 of this paper-

 

http://etheses.dur.a...4129/1/4129_1648.pdf

 

It will be interesting to see how members intrepret the motif and the mei!

 

Onward!

[brentlewiis]

Hello Dan,

 

Thank you very much for the link to that fascinating paper!  The Namban treatment of the seppa-dai struck me as well.    I am also wondering about the shape of the sotoba. I have not come across any other tsuba with both skull motifs and Namban details.  Hoping to learn more!  I will try posting the mei and inlay in Translation Assistance.

[Spartancrest]

7 hours ago, brentlewiis said:

this tsuba, which might be found interesting for a number of reasons

A few days late for Halloween! 

Great looking piece. I like the namban influenced seppa-dai - very unusual being only on the omote side. 

[FlorianB]

Seeing the front I wasn't sure what to make out of it, but the backside looks all right.
I’ve never seen such before - interesting indeed!

Is the front side plated?

 

Florian

[brentlewiis]

Hello Florian,

 

There does not seem to be any plating on the front.  The back is quite raw— seems like it might be intentionally so as it seems to give a cloud or fog effect.  This also suggested the possibility of cleaning to me.  Perhaps overzealous removal of surface rust?  There does not seem to be any pitting however.  The finish on the front is perhaps suggestive of some form of “pickling”?

 

Lucian

[SteveM]

Should be Kikuchi Masahira (菊地正平) but there is no such smith listed in Wakayama's index. 

There are two Masahiras, but neither of them use the name Kikuchi. One is a Shōami artist, and the other uses the gō of Tetsugendō. 

 

So I'm a bit skeptical of the name. The inscription/poem also eludes me 骨---無---波---誰と too many blanks that need filling in, but some musing on bones, as you can guess just by looking at the theme without knowing any of the characters. I don't know if that orphaned bit of writing on the right side is part of the poem, or if it is something else (name of the poet, for example). 

[kyushukairu]

As Steve notes, on the left of the nakago-ana is 'Kikuchi Masahira' (菊地正平), but on the right is 'Bungo jū' (豊後住). There was only one professional tsubako in Bungo - Yasaka Eikan (八坂永閑). However, as with a lot of Satsuma tosogu, some Bungo swordsmiths also made fittings. I believe this to be the case with your tsuba. The most likely candidate is "MASAHIRA (正平), Kyōhō (享保, 1716-1736), Bungo → MASAHIRA (政平), Kyōhō (享保, 1716-1736), Buzen"

[brentlewiis]

My thanks to everyone for the informative and illuminating discussion!  One of the things that struck me was the dissimilarity in treatment of the front and back— had I encountered images of the two sides independently of one another I would have assumed I was looking at two different objects.  I was also both perplexed and intrigued by the design—in my limited experience, such iconography is usually used with a measure of austerity and restraint, rather than in profusion, as here.
 The only thing I can think of that resembles the color of the metal on the front is shibuichi.  The back is so raw that for a time I thought the piece might be of recent origin.  The gold inlaid border, and the inlay of the poem seem undisturbed, and I would expect some issues if the surface had even cleaned with abrasives.  The inlays on the front have suffered some losses, however.  

On the whole, I was sufficiently intrigued that I purchased the item, if for no other reason than to enable further direct study.  Again my thanks for everyone’s ongoing input.