First flea market purchase - School, age, theme?

[Jesta]

I went to the very small market at the Hanazono Shrine this morning. There were quite few pieces of tosogu ranging from the fake to the old, from the reasonable quality to the really rough, and from cheap to expensive. 

I picked this one up for a reasonable price, it seemed to be the best balance of the lot. It’s iron, with brass inlay, slightly proud of the surface. It’s small, about 4.5cm x 4cm (guesstimate, I don’t have a ruler on me).

 

Any thoughts on the theme or origins? 

[Jake6500]

Your tsuba appears to depict a Sakura design (cherry/sakura blossom) based on the flowers. 

 

The theme is the tradition of Hanami (cherry blossom viewing).

 

Here is an ukiyo-e that I think matches the theme of the tsuba and shows clearly what the part at the bottom is meant to be...

 

 

This ukiyo-e depicts cherry blossom viewing at Edo Castle and was produced in the Meiji Period as depictions of the inside of Edo Castle were banned throughout the Edo Period. This means it is likely that your tsuba is also from the Meiji period or later, perhaps inspired by Meiji Period works. The particular ukiyo-e artist who created the woodblock piece shown above (Yoshu Chikanobu) was born in 1838 and died in 1912.

 

Of course, my response is based primarily on the theme of the tsuba as opposed to a close inspection of the condition of the tsuba itself... There are more knowledgeable people on the forum who are better suited to that sort of thing than me. Perhaps one of them could give us an indication about the style/school or add some further remarks about the likely age of the tsuba as I cannot rule out the possibility that this is a late Edo Period piece depicting cherry blossom viewing somewhere else in Japan... (Ueno or Kyoto?)

 

Hope this helps...

[FlorianB]

I think the theme is correctly named.
However, both the tradition of cherry blossom viewing and the use of cloth curtains are very old. 

So the conclusion the tsuba is of the same age as the depicted woodblock print is not correct. 

I suppose it was made during the Genroku/ middle Edo period based on the hitsu-ana both in suahama shape.

 

Some blossoms show abrasions at the corners, so it seem like overlay in some parts?

[Jake6500]

1 hour ago, FlorianB said:

I think the theme is correctly named.
However, both the tradition of cherry blossom viewing and the use of cloth curtains are very old. 

So the conclusion the tsuba is of the same age as the depicted woodblock print is not correct. 

I suppose it was made during the Genroku/ middle Edo period based on the hitsu-ana both in suahama shape.

 

Some blossoms show abrasions at the corners, so it seem like overlay in some parts?

 

You are correct that the tradition extends back centuries Florian, however I think the preponderance of visual art (as opposed to the literary works that inspired Edo Period works) depicting the tradition emerged in substantial volumes in the latter half of the Edo Period. 

 

Personally I am quite doubtful the tsuba is from the Genroku Period (which is a very specific period to specify and I question the basis for such a specific dating). Hanami viewing was also only popularised in the Edo Period amongst common folk under the reign of Tokugawa Yoshimune who planted trees for the public in 1720 16 years after the end of Genroku, so the idea that the tsuba would have been made before (or even during) the Kyoho era seems unlikely to me. 

 

More likely it was made around or after the ukiyo-e explosion led by artists such as Katsushika Hokusai and Utagawa Hiroshige who began to feature Hanami in their woodblock works beginning in the late 18th century and moving into the 19th.

 

To me any date prior to the 1780's or 1790's would be quite improbable whilst anything prior to 1720 should probably be disregarded entirely. I'm definitely open to the idea that this tsuba is a mid-late Edo Period work but I'm doubtful we're looking at an object from the first half of the Edo Period. The shape of the Hitsu-Ana alone may not be a fool-proof means of dating either as artists did sometimes mimic older styles / designs using old-school Hitsu-Ana shapes, Mokko-Gata, etc to make their works look older than they actually are.

 

EDIT: Upon doing some digging, there are some suspiciously similar tsuba floating about so I wouldn't be surprised if they're being made to look old and being marketed to tourists as souvenirs... Hanazono Shrine being a cherry blossom viewing spot, it would be the perfect place to market such an item. Although, the one I found is not an EXACT match, so they may just be two similar tsuba of similar origins...

 

https://www.ebay.com...r=artemis&media=COPY

 

[Jesta]

Thank you all for the insights so far.

 

If it is a fake, then they have gone to a whole lot of trouble for not a huge reward… The wear pattern and the rust look pretty authentic. The one I have is different from the eBay one, they are not identical copies (as you are careful to note ) so it would seem more likely to be makers copying each other’s designs. 

 

[Jake6500]

On 3/2/2025 at 11:54 PM, Jesta said:

Thank you all for the insights so far.

 

If it is a fake, then they have gone to a whole lot of trouble for not a huge reward… The wear pattern and the rust look pretty authentic. The one I have is different from the eBay one, they are not identical copies (as you are careful to note ) so it would seem more likely to be makers copying each other’s designs. 

 

 

I wonder if this sort of a design has been copied or repeated specifically in the vicinity of shrines known as Hanami viewing spots... Perhaps this design is a commemorative design of sorts. Having a look at the one I found again there are some subtle differences which make me think both are probably authentic with similar origins, perhaps made in the same area or by members of the same school.

 

I am of the mind that these tsuba were probably made for commercial reasons in the later Edo Period at a time where the production of goods began to accelerate and I have a feeling they might have been marketed to the growing merchant class...

 

Little reason for this assertion besides a hunch and some background knowledge about Edo Period Confucianism but the repeated design, the quality of the work and the more affordable materials lead me to believe these tsuba might not have been produced for vassals from samurai households, but rather for a new and emerging consumer market.

 

It has been suggested that woodblock tsuba design books existed in the late Edo Period that customers could view and make selections from when commissioning tsuba (there's a thread about it on the forum somewhere) so I wonder if this design existed or still exists in a late Edo woodblock catalogue somewhere... It would explain the design similarities and would seemingly match the likely period of production if so...

[Jesta]

It would make sense for this to be something more decorative for the wealthy non-samurai to have bought. It’s for a smaller sword, so something that could be carried by non-samurai in the Edo period. It’s not very high-quality, but attractive enough to be appealing, either as a present or just as a nicer piece on a sword.

I think that it has been mounted at least once (there is a small mark at the top of the nakago ana), but doesn’t seem to have been remounted, so it probably was not highly-prized. 

[Spartancrest]

   

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/d1956-ctsw-Japanese-samurai-sakura-474689814

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156771560501

https://www.ponteonline.com/en/lot-details/auction/525/lot/264/Oval+iron+tsuba+with+gold+decorations+Edo+period+17th+century+diam

 

Ebay is the same as posted by Jake posted March 2 - it has three blossoms on the right whereas the others have two. Certainly a popular design but they are not exactly the same so I doubt they are 'fakes'.

 

A different treatment by the Umetada school: From the François Poncetton Collection sale of June 12th in 1929

[Jesta]

Thanks Dale. My guess would be that these were probably produced in large numbers. Possibly, as Jake has suggested, they were to serve the market around the sakura viewing season, something nice to take back home and give to friends or family. Maybe a whole collection of workshops producing similar designs, copying from each other, and putting their own flair on.