Ategane or Ume(why)

[budodeshi]

Could anyone shed some light on why the kozuka or kogai ana on a good number of tsuba were filled in with a ategane?

I just don't understand the reason behind this.

[budodeshi]

No responce yet and i still cant find the reason as to why they would plug up the kozuka or kogai holes.

[John A Stuart]

Well, the only real reason is aesthetics. Some tsuba were made like that from the get go. John

[Toryu2020]

David -

According to Akiyama Kyusaku Sensei older tsuba which had hitsu-ana added later should properly have those openings filled. In this way when viewing them you could more easily imagine them as "ubu". Of course as John as pointed out Edo period artists found that you could fill these openings with all kinds of soft metals, add fancy punch marks and patterns and these in turn would become part of the overall presentation. I believe that in the late Edo period it became quite a fad to add ume-gane.

 

Now I only know this from articles in our own newsletter so there must certainly be more informed opinions than mine...

-t

[Bugyotsuji]

Interesting question. It reminds me of how Bushi carried little blob coins of Mame-kin/gin hidden somewhere in the Koshirae. Using a Tsuba, you could block up the unused hitsu ana if you had a Kozuka, but no Kogai for example, and if in gold or silver this would then be an easy source of ready cash. How simple it would be to push out the filling when in need, without destroying the Tsuba's value or shape in any way.

[Bugyotsuji]

Chatting with a Kinko friend today and this subject came up. He dismissed my gold/silver theory because the umegane is in fact two surface leaves of gold/silver/copper etc., sandwiching a sticky filler. Not much intrinsic value per se.

 

He reckons that it was an attempt to match your Tsuba to a particular Koshirae. It would have looked 'wrong' and unnaturally see-through if you have no Hitsu in the saya for a Kozuka or a Kogai. He also suggested that blocking off the unnecessary window would help hide the movement of your fingers, so that a potential adversary would find it harder to read your intentions. Did you just 'cut the Koikuchi' or not???