3 possible uses for 1 tsuba?

[Dan tsuba]

How many tsuba did the average (not high status or wealthy) samurai own?

 

I have read it somewhere (of course again I can’t remember where I read it – age bites!)

 

that some (wealthier) samurai had 3 or more tsuba for each blade of their daisho.

 

They had a tsuba to place on their blade to wear in royal court appearances (or when appearing in front of a noble or nobles).

 

They had a tsuba to place on their blade for daily wear.

 

And they had another tsuba to place on their blade for battle or duels.

 

So, to assist in explaining the above thoughts, I will need to refer to some parts of my daisho.

 

I am not going to discuss the blades here.  This is not the proper area of the forum to do that, and they have already been brought up in the Nihonto section and the Translation section probably a couple of years ago (but once again, I can’t remember those threads-darn it!).

 

Now, I am fortunate in owning a daisho set (a low-quality set, but I am glad I got it - and hey that was all I could afford-ha, ha, ha, ha, etc!).

 

I believe that my daisho is at least 300 years old and was owned by a poor samurai (the dealer in Japan that sold it stated it was from the very late Muromachi period making this daisho at least 430 years old now-but hey they could have been wrong and probably were incorrect-but whatever!).

 

Anyway, I make that estimate of at least 300 years old based on the blade of the katana (since I believe the wakizashi blade is a newer replacement-as explained below) and tsuba (and what is of interest is that even though both tsuba are of the same style, the inlay on the katana tsuba is not as close together as the inlay on the wakizashi tsuba – several of the pictures below show what I have described-although you may need to zoom in on that first picture!), the ito wrapping on the tsuka (the ito on the katana has small wood chips placed in places on the frayed and separating ito – again refer to the picture below- I think the samurai who owned it perhaps couldn’t afford to have the tsuka re-wrapped?), and the fact that both saya are not exactly made the same (but are of the same color-I figure the wakizashi blade had been broken at one time and replaced with another more current blade and saya).

 

Actually, this daisho (seems to me) to be a hodgepodge of different things.  Same style of tsuba (probably made by two different craftsmen), different style of blades (also probably made by two different craftsmen), and slightly different saya (again also probably made by two different craftsmen).  But the (probably) poor samurai that owned this daisho kept it all together and looking good (the tsuba match up well, the furnishings and ito on both daisho tsuka are the same and appear to show the same age, and the saya are both the same color).

 

I have included picture a of the daisho, pictures of the tsuba and how they are very similar (but not exactly the same), and a picture of the wood chips in the katana tsuka.

 

What I find of interest is that I think the poor samurai that owned this daisho may have had only one tsuba (since he probably couldn’t afford more tsuba?) for his daisho blades and could have used the same tsuba for all 3 functions mentioned above (court, daily wear, and battle or duels).

 

The tsuba on the daisho (if they still had all the inlay in them!) would have looked good enough (in my opinion) for court.  It would also be fine to wear for daily wear.  And it is not a fine artistically carved tsuba (it is only inlaid) so it could also be used for battles or duels (without the samurai being concerned about possibly ruining a tsuba that was overly artistic, and probably would be very expensive!).

 

So, perhaps, maybe some samurai only owned one tsuba for each of their daisho blades?

 

Anyway, just some interesting stuff.  And who knows, maybe the owner of my daisho had more than one tsuba to place on his blades?

 

And of course, it is just my opinion on the age of my daisho.

 

Still, I find this an interesting subject and just wanted to share my thoughts (at least it makes my day go by faster, and gives this old retired person something to do!).

 

Onward!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dereks]

How do you even know these were owned and wore as a set by the same person? 

[GRC]

I don't have the quote or source quickly at hand, but at the time of the registering of nihonto in Japan, the average number of sets of fittings per sword was 6.

This is just from memory... researched it almost three years ago now... but I'm 99% certain the average number was 6.

 

And as @Dereks points out, there's no way to "know" that a sword has all its original fittings.

In fact, it's highly improbable that any sword has its original fittings... especially given that tastes and styles changed over time, and that there was an average of 6 sets of fittings per sword, so which set would be the original (if any of them were indeed the original)?.

 

It makes sense to assume that the further back in time the sword was made, the lower the chance that any of the fittings were the originals.

There is a long history of sellers and collectors swapping out the fittings for both aesthetic reasons and reasons of maximizing profits.

 

So even at an estimate of 300 years, I'd say the likelihood that the fittings are original, is next to zero...

 

The only possible exceptions I could think of off the top of my head would be swords and fitting sets that were made as extravagant gifts to someone of major importance, which may even have documentation to back it up.... this was made in the year "X", and gifted to person "Y" for occasion "z". I have even seen such a set in person... a tanto with gold fittings presented to a certain modern day Japanese princess on her wedding day (I forget her name...). 

[Dan tsuba]

Hello Dereks, And GRC (how have you been? Nice to see your logo appearing often again on the forum!).

 

“How do you even know these were owned and wore as a set by the same person?”

 

That is a good question!

 

I figure that to have two tsuka of different sizes (one for the katana and the other for the wakizashi) that have the exact same furnishings, with the exact same false emperor nodes on the rayskin , with the exact same ito wrapping, that show the exact same age (my opinion) and that were not worn as a pair would fall into the extremely (extremely!) small odds of happening!

 

But, once again, that is just my opinion!

 

Picture of my daisho tsuka is attached.

 

Onward!

[Tcat]

1 hour ago, GRC said:

In fact, it's highly improbable that any sword has its original fittings... especially given that tastes and styles changed over time, and that there was an average of 6 sets of fittings per sword, so which set would be the original (if any of them were indeed the original)?

 

While rare, they exist. Quite a few from the edo period. As date of manufacture gets older, naturally, the rarity of original koshirea increases by a large factor.

[Okan]

@GRC @Tcat

 

Yup, I had one from late edo..1853 to be exact...

 

 

 

[Okan]

@Dan tsuba

 

Unfortunately, people in the West often romanticize the samurai. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, they didn't care much about their sword fittings—or even their swords themselves. Low-ranking samurai were struggling just to feed their families, let alone worry about the fittings. If they owned more than one pair of tsuba, they would sell them at second-hand markets to make ends meet. In Tokyo, markets in areas like Kanda and Honjo were especially popular for this. It was very easy to find a set of tsuka, tsuba etc…

 

In the 18th and 19th centuries, samurai made up about 5-6% of Japan's total population, but a quarter of them were jobless. There are records of samurai buying swords from second-hand markets in Kanda, finding proper fittings, and reselling them for profit—just like Japanese dealers do today.

 

High-ranking samurai usually owned more than one daishō. Instead of changing out their tsuba, they would often have more than one set, allowing them to wear something fancier, or maybe a tachi, when appearing at court. Some of them also collected swords and I’m sure they had  some daisho tsuba sets as well. Also, gift-giving was common among high-ranking samurai, and they often received gifts from their lords. Head of the house and their sons typically received “very good" swords and most of the time in a very good koshirae.

 

That being said, these type of questions won’t help you move "onward" in your tsuba studies. Instead, focus on the tsuba itself—time is precious.

 

Okan

 

 

[Dan tsuba]

A little off topic here-

 

Thank you Okan for your post and great information!

 

And I appreciate you stating-

 

“That being said, these types of questions won’t help you move "onward" in your tsuba studies. Instead, focus on the tsuba itself—time is precious”.

 

I see from your bio that you are 44.  I am 74, pushing 75 (and hope to go on for another 30 years-ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, etc!).

 

So, I feel that I will focus on those questions that interest me.

 

The study of tsuba has many varying areas.

 

In my opinion, each area is relevant and interesting to the study of tsuba.

 

Onward!

 

[Okan]

59 minutes ago, Dan tsuba said:

A little off topic here-

 

Thank you Okan for your post and great information!

 

And I appreciate you stating-

 

“That being said, these types of questions won’t help you move "onward" in your tsuba studies. Instead, focus on the tsuba itself—time is precious”.

 

I see from your bio that you are 44.  I am 74, pushing 75 (and hope to go on for another 30 years-ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, etc!).

 

So, I feel that I will focus on those questions that interest me.

 

The study of tsuba has many varying areas.

 

In my opinion, each area is relevant and interesting to the study of tsuba.

 

Onward!

 

 

What does my age have anything to do with this? 

[Dan tsuba]

Hello Okan,

 

Your question of age.

 

See, that’s what I get for trying to be nice!

 

Don’t advise an old man on what questions he should ask about tsuba (or anything else!).

 

Who do you think you are?

 

Do you really want to go there?

 

Or let’s just forget about this and move on!

 

Onward!

[Tcat]

3 hours ago, Okan said:

@GRC @Tcat

 

Yup, I had one from late edo..1853 to be exact...

 

I know this one and its an absolute stunner..... 

[Okan]

13 hours ago, Dan tsuba said:

Hello Okan,

 

Your question of age.

 

See, that’s what I get for trying to be nice!

 

Don’t advise an old man on what questions he should ask about tsuba (or anything else!).

 

Who do you think you are?

 

Do you really want to go there?

 

Or let’s just forget about this and move on!

 

Onward!

 

Actually, I was the one who was trying to be nice to you. I was simply giving you an advice, why do you take it as an insult? Also, are you going to attack everyone who ask you a question? No wonder so many people added you to their ignore list. Well, I'm joining them..no need to waste my time with you.