NAMBAN FK / Menuki

[Marc BROQUIN]

Hello :D ,

One of my friends is looking for Namban Fuchi Kashira for a Katana .

Thanks by advance for any help

Friendly

Marc

[Lorenzo]

I have a set; I sent you a PM.

[Ted Tenold]

Marc,

 

I know of another set. I can see if it's available. There were also Namban menuki. I will check with them and PM you.

[Gunome]

Hello,

 

I don't know to what Namban Fuchi Kashira looks like.

Is it a dragon patern ?

 

Sorry I am curious.

 

Sebastien

[Bazza]

All, I'd love to see pics of Namban fuchigashira and menuki...

 

Regards,

BaZZa.

[Ted Tenold]

I should have some pictures by the middle of next week. A friend has them and he's not available to get images of them until then.

 

Namban fuchi kashira are highly unusual, as are menuki. I actually saw a namban kozuka once as well, and haven't seen another since. They're not too difficult to imagine if you think of a namban tsuba in the form of fuchi and kashira. :lol:

[Chriso]

Just to add a couple of pretty pics. I've taken a bit of a fancy to Nanban fittings thanks to DOCLISS and his publication. Attached are a couple of rescued pics from two sets that have come up on ebay over the past few months. The first set with Kozuka fetched $800 ish US, and I think the second set went for about $300 odd.

 

Chris O

[Gunome]

Hi,

 

Now I understand what namban F/K look's like.

Thanks a lot

 

Sébastien

[Bazza]

Hi,

 

Now I understand what namban F/K look's like.

Thanks a lot

 

Sébastien

Yes, so do I. Thanks Chriso for putting these up. I have never seen Namban fuchigashira or menuki in all my years of collecting, so maybe they are thin on the ground??? Very interesting indeed.

Best regards,

BaZZa.

[Brian]

First for me too. thanks.

Very interesting, so much so that I have moved it from the wanted section to this section so that it remains here for the future. Would love to see more pics if anyone has any.

 

Brian

[docliss]

I am grateful to Chris for posting the images of the Namban fuchi-gashira and kozuka. There are a number of possible reasons for the extreme scarcity of these small fittings. The production of such delicate work must have been technically difficult; such small fittings do not adequately display the skill of this work; and the undercutting on these would have created a large surface area relative to their size and made them very prone to destruction by rusting. Neither is the character of fittings associated with Namban tsuba known, and these may generally have been either plain iron or low relief karakusa-and-dragon designs. The problem of the adequate display of the undercutting was sometimes resolved by backing such fittings with gold foil.

 

Namban menuki I have never seen, always assuming them either to have been destroyed by rust, or to have consisted of plain iron ‘washers’. PLEASE post some images of these for me.

 

John L.

[Lorenzo]

How was these mounted? I mean; some picture of a old mounted tsuka to see if there was same or brocade or something else? Being the fuchigashira see through, lends to interesting visual effect

[docliss]

Dear Lorenzo, it is very difficult to be certain of the original form of Namban koshirae. Without a secure provenance there is no certainty that those in existence are ubu, and Namban koshirae were not deposited in reputable Japanese collections. However, those that I have seen have all been conventionally mounted, with same tsuka, and I see no reason to doubt that this was the norm.

 

Regards, John L.

[SSt]

Hi Docliss,

I have also never seen any Iron Namban Menuki, perhaps working iron at that size and scale was just not practicable.

Factor in sweaty palms, and iron menuki must have been a major liability.

 

Hirado Kunishige's style is considered a variation of the Namban theme.

This is an orphan menuki in Yamagane, 43mm, signed Hirado. N.B. The smaller image is actual life size.

 

Steve

[Jean]

Makes me think of Kunishige work

[docliss]

Dear Steve

 

Thank you for posting the charming image of the menuki. It is, of course, typical of Hirado Kunishige work and the mei of Hirado (平戸), together with the use of random Western characters and of the dragon motif, would seem to confirm this. I do not personally consider such work to fall within the Namban group, however, and would still like to see some openwork menuki, undercut and rendered in iron, that fulfil my own conception of Namban work.

 

John L.

[John A Stuart]

Hi John, I am thinking there is no such animal as iron namban menuki, I don't think you expect to see them either, yes? The Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia describes a sword (gunto? they date it as 1939-45) in its' collection as having iron menuki in the form of dragons, however they can't describe even by whom the sword is made which leaves me to doubt the veracity of such. Ted's site has odd iron menuki in iron of nakago since sold. Iron menuki themselves are rare, I haven't seen iron namban menuki. I include some examples of iron menuki that are otherwise. The Mino-bori menuki and Ezo menuki, which I think are Mino-bori family anyway, are exactly the type of open work, undercut menuki you describe, but, in soft metal. I wouldn't envision seeing them in combination with other namban type fittings though. John

[docliss]

Dear John

 

In an earlier posting in this thread, Ted Tenold intimated that he has access to some images of Namban menuki, which has kept me in high hope of seeing them. But, like you, I have never yet seen any evidence that such beasts exist.

 

John L.

[Ted Tenold]

Hi John,

 

Sorry for my absence. I do have email ya know.

 

I was hoping to have some better images at some point, but since my friend is limited in his photographic skills, we'll have to be content with these for the moment. Email or PM me if you have any questions about them. I will attempt to get some better images of them at some point, but no promises of when as they're about 1000 miles away from me.

 

Enjoy!

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Has this thread crossed the border to become a Sticky ?

[Brian]

Ted,

 

Yes...I am changing the title, and will turn it into an article if no-one minds.

 

Brian

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

Yes...I am changing the title, and will turn it into an article if no-one minds.

 

In the same spirit, and as we all know Ted is too busy to do this, I've enhanced a little the pictures.

[John A Stuart]

Thank you Ted, It is nice to be surprised once in awhile. If I had caught your post on these I would have never doubted you. John

[docliss]

Thank you, Ted, for those images. I am fascinated to see them, having previously doubted if such things as Namban menuki really existed. One now has to presume that their present scarcity is due to their degradation by rust rather than their simply not having been practicable to create.

 

Kind regards, John L.