Strange tsuba w. kawari-gata hitsu-ana

[Marius]

Dear All,

 

I have recently bought a rather intriguing tsuba.

 

It is made of iron, slightly raised rim, finished in tsuchime, with very faint Amidayasuri. Some surface rust of purplish colour, otherwise good, brown patina. Granular and linear tekkotsu in the rim.

 

The most intriguing thing in this tsuba is the way the kawari-gata hitsu-ana are finished - they are adorned with what seems to be tiny plugs made of lead or lead/zinc alloy. The plugs have grey patina so they clearly stand out from the iron plate.

 

The tsuba is signed - you will surely make out what the mei is. I find it rather clumsy. an interesting feature is also that this tsuba seems to have been mounted on either side - both sides have what seems yose-tagane. Both hitsu ana have been fitted with soft metal inserts, these have been lost.

 

Dimensions:

8.5 x 7.9 cm

Seppa-dai thickness: 3 mm

Rim thickness: 4 mm

 

Thanks for looking Your ideas on this tsuba would be greatly appreciated

 

PS: sorry for the download time...

[Henry Wilson]

Looks like the mei is 山吉　or YAMA KICHI who was originally an armour smith from Owari or modern Nagoya area. The shodai worked around the same time as the first Nobuie (end of Muromachi) and nearly as highly regarded.

 

Your tsuba looks rather brown which is not a bad thing however I would expect more of an ingrained purple tinge to the plate for it to be of the YAMA KICHI line.

 

The MEI looks very cleanly cut which is unusual as YAMA KICHI used to add the signature and then fire the tsuba one last time to give the tsuba an overall melted finish. It could be a Katchushi tsuba with a MEI added later.

 

Attached is much later, lower end YAMA KICHI I owned once. Might be fun to compare.

 

Just a few thoughts

[Steve Waszak]

Hi Mariusz,

 

The mei on this tsuba does indeed read Yama Kichi, though I am reasonably certain that it was added later (or that the tsuba itself is relatively late). As Henry notes, the early Yamakichibei tsubako would finish their tsuba in most cases by treating them with additional heat after the mei was inscribed (yakite shitate), such that the mei become much fainter and are often difficult to discern. The mei on this guard gives no evidence of this process. Further, certain details of the "Yama" and Kichi" kanji, respectively, appear not to conform to the particulars of the Yamakichibei mei accepted by many knowledgeable tsuba scholars.

 

Additionally, Yamakichibei steel seems to possess the peculiar quality of being relatively rust-resistant; while these tsuba may lose their luster with lack of proper care and storage, they apparently resist corrosion much better than most tsuba. Yours appears to have several areas of red rust, which would thus further lead me to doubt this tsuba coming from the Yamakichibei workshop in Momoyama Owari. I also don't see the clear signs of high-quality forging that authentic early Yamakichibei tsuba boast. Yamakichibei tsubako were famous for the exceedingly high quality of their iron/steel; genuine pieces practically jump out at you in this regard.

 

There are other characteristics in your tsuba here which don't align with what I see in early Yamakichibei guards. In particular, the specific mokko shape of this tsuba differs from the mokko-gata favored by the Momoyama Yamakichibei. Of course, it's not impossible that they did use this shape, but I'm not aware of having seen it before...

 

The amida-yasuri is an intriguing component of this tsuba, however. The fact that fine amida-yasuri was famously used in Yamakichibei workshops, and that Yamakichibei tsubako are considered by many to be supreme in this type of work, raises interesting questions about exactly what your tsuba is. Perhaps it is a later "homage" to Yamakichibei.

 

As to the curious "plugs" you observe around the hitsu-ana, yes, this is interesting. I've included a photo of a small (early-Edo, I believe) Yamakichibei tsuba which presents hitsu-ana reminiscent of those on your guard. Note the rather clumsily-done inserts (silver, I think) in the hitsu-ana...

 

Thanks for posting this guard, Mariusz...

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[Marius]

Henry, Steve,

 

many thanks for your input. No doubt that this tsuba is gimei. I wouldn't expect a Yamakichi for the price I paid :D

BTW, Steve's tsuba shows a wonderful patina and a very moist look, while Henry's looks a bit dry and my impression is late Edo Saotome (despite the molten mei). But then again, who am I to give an attribution...

 

The rust spots on my tsuba seem only skin-deep, but they do exist. Patina does not indicate great age, but my untrained eye can be mistaken...

 

Those plugs are a mystery... The yasurime seem very good quality to me...

 

Shall we say - it is a late Edo revival piece woth a false mei added later?

[Steve Waszak]

Hi Mariusz,

 

I think your call (gimei revival piece) is probably a good one. I agree, too, that the amida-yasuri look to be quite well done, though more reminiscent, to my eye, of fine Owari Norisuke work than early Yamakichibei, whose amida-yasuri often appears "rougher"... (I do know, however, that Sakura Yamakichi employed such finely-rendered amida-yasuri... ;o).

 

Cheers,

 

Steve