A shinsaku tsuba from Africa!

[Ford Hallam]

Hello all,

 

Here are some images of a tsuba I completed last year.It's carved steel with silver, gold and yamagane inlay. The patina is actually a lot more wet in appearance, not quite happy with the old digital camera yet.

 

I'll let you decide what my influences were.

 

regards, Ford

 

sorry about posting the ura first, don't know how to re-arrange them now.

[Rich T]

thanks for sharing it. I would think there would be several influences there. Soft metal works of the Kinko and Goto artists but also a feel for the Bushu/Choshu styles that were around the mid Edo period ?.

 

Best

 

Rich

[Bungo]

Kano Natsuo !!

 

 

 

Very impressed with the way you chiseled your mei...............signed like a " native ".

 

milt The ronin

[John A Stuart]

Hi Ford, Nice craftsmanship. Would be your journeyman piece, what? John

[sencho]

I know nothing about tsuba, Ford.....

 

However it is beautiful..... I love the simplicity of the peice as a whole and the design is just fantastic.

 

I agree with Milt about the Mei too.... it looks completely natural.

 

Awesome!

 

cheers

[Bungo]

from another sword message board..........

 

Kazuuchi mei or nakirishi mei?

 

just kidding here.................. mei is signed very very nice

 

milt the ronin

[sencho]

Milt.... Talking about Kano Natsuo.... check this

 

http://cgi.ebay.com/Japanese-Samurai-Sw ... dZViewItem

 

 

Cheers!!!

[Bungo]

Kapitan,

I notice that sale too..........however, for better example, check out the book Lethal Elegance, better examples of Natsuo's works.

None of that wabi stuffs..........hahahahahaha

 

milt The ronin

[Bungo]

Ford,

does your mei means" walk/follow the correct/right path " ?

 

milt the ronin

[Nobody]

I think that the mei means as follows;

 

Ford ---> Fu-Ou-Dou (歩王道) means "walking on the royal road",

 

right?

[Ford Hallam]

Thank you Gentlemen, for your very kind comments.

 

Mr Natsuo is probably my biggest single study, Mitsuoki Otsuki is also a firm favorite.

 

John, Although I've made more than 30 tsuba in the last 25 years this one probably represents a significant transition for me.

 

Milt, you've got the gist of my Go, Mr Nobady got attari though! Actually my teacher gave me this Kanji based mei when I first went to study with him, Kata-kana just looks inelegant on a tsuba .

 

thanks again for the reception,

 

Ford

[Stephen]

why would anyone want a Lincoln when you can get that kind of work from a Ford. :lol: Really what I want to say is very well done and second the phrase of the mei. Sir if you would not mind I and I would think other members would like a small excerpt of how you got started, how you approached your Sensei, any apprentices time, the ups and downs, anything you may care to share.

Maybe post it in GD. Thanks for sharing.

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Stephen,

 

thanks for your kind comments. I will in fact be launching my own web-site in the next few weeks. I will have a fairly lengthy account posted there, about how I have travelled to this point in my rather improbable career. Plus lots more photos.

 

thanks for the support , cheers, Ford

[kusunokimasahige]

Ford, what are your prices?

 

KM

[Ford Hallam]

Hi KM,

 

Expensive!

 

it's hard to give general price, but as an indication, tsuba range from $4000 to $7000, even $10 000. There are so many variables, not least of which is the design itself. Oh! and more than 25 years training and study. . Still, compared to shinsakuto I'm really cheap.

I will have some older pieces of mine on my site, they will be cheaper.

 

cheers, Ford

 

oops!, sorry mods if this got a bit commercial.

[kusunokimasahige]

eeeeeeerrmmmmmmmm

 

oops............

 

wish i was rich..........

 

they sure look good!

 

KM

[John A Stuart]

Hi All, This reference to price made me wonder. I have seen reference made about arming a soldier in various arena. A common way of relating cost of arming a knight, European and Japanese has been, to be fully accoutered, equal to the value of a village. This would be the chevalier or mounted samurai. The foot soldier and ashigaru etc. considerably less. How does the price of high quality tsuba avg. $10,000 relate to prices the samurai had to pay for top of the line tsuba? My thought is that we get them, in relative terms, cheaper. We can get tsuba for a couple of days wages and the big boys for a months pay, is this equivalent? I don't think so. John

[sencho]

Which asks the question how did a sword smith or tsuba maker (name?) or whatever, get paid back in those days. I assume the main commodity was rice, but of course there was coins too...

 

In general did the metalworkers work for a clan as a whole and get paid by a Daimyo to equip his army? Or were they more freelance and paid by individual Samurai?

 

Or were they just doing their duty to their clan and doing their jobs to the best of their ability "which is it's own reward", and happy in the fact that they were appreciated and getting their room and board?

 

I would assume (but have no idea) that all of these were in place at some point; and I am sure things changed over the centuries, as different systems were employed, tastes and necessities changed, and political structures and entities evolved and superceeded each other.

 

This just gives me a thirst to know more!! Any good books on this kind of thing?

 

Cheers

[Ford Hallam]

Hi John,

 

you raise a very pertinent point. The price of antique Japanese metalwork is very cheap when we factor in time and skill based on today's ( first world ) costs. We are in an enviable situation being able to cherry pick from a vast back catalogue, so to speak. The original cost of producing many of these items has become irrelevant.

 

As with all things, price is affected by demand. I dare say that if there was a sudden and serious ( ie, collectors willing to pay top dollar ) demand for my tsuba, I'd put my prices up! :D ( I can dream :D ) The very best stuff of course, will always command the best prices from connoisseurs. Anyone know any Medici?

 

Ford

[Jim Kelso]

Again I'll say, lovely sensitive work, Ford. Beautiful transition from the polished mimi to the carved texture.

[Ford Hallam]

Thanks Jim,

 

as you know, this type of treatment of the ground, which people like Natsuo and Mitsuo Otsuki did so well, is something I've been exploring for some time. I'm beginning to follow my own inclinations now rather than trying to emulate the past masters. To my mind this is how we keep a tradition alive and most importantly, vital.

 

keep tappin',

Ford

[Curran]

Mr. Ford,

 

You may be the best person to ask about a tsuba I've owned for a while. A photo/scan should be attached.

 

I've wondered if it might be Otsuki school? Yes/No/Maybe

The tsuba is identical on both sides, and the face seems to be more shibuichi-esque in a dark grey with nice lustre. Eye is gold, with a shakudo pupil. My logic is only that I have seen two very similar Daruma school tsuba from the Otsuki school. I do not know much about the school and would appreciate any references in English.

 

(Hmmm... photo isn't attaching. Need to resize it. Will post later.)

[sencho]

bringing Currans post back to the top!

 

cheers

[Curran]

Ok, second try to post the photo.

[Curran]

And now the fairly identical otherside.

 

Been curious what this one was, but have not bothered shinsa'ing it yet, as I get the feeling they will scratch their heads and call it 'Hamano'. Doesn't feel Hamano to me. Some sort of derivative of Hamano- maybe Otsuki or maybe something else.

 

Opinions welcome.

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Curran,

 

sorry about the slow response. Server glitches!

 

I certainly won't claim to be any kind of authority on the Otsuki school but your tsuba is so very simplified that there is not much to hang an attribution on. To be honest it may well be the work of any unaffiliated machi-bori artisan. Personally I'd hesitate to attribute on the basis of similar designs or motifs. I would suggest that it is very late, perhaps even Bakamatsu.

 

Sorry I can't offer any more help.

 

Ford

[Ford Hallam]

Hi all,

 

I've just had a look at the link that was posted to some items offered as being by Natsuo, over on ebay. While the hakogaki on the box looks beautiful and may well be "right" the items themselves are really very poor fakes. I would say not even 100 years old yet, Natsuo was probably one of the greatest artists to have worked in metal and these sorry examples are an insult to the great mans memory. They are Japanese made, but the quality is simply not there.

 

regards, Ford

[sencho]

Thanks Ford that is interesting to note,

 

Mike who is the seller there is a decent guy, so he has missed this one with regards to it's authenticity.

 

As I was talking to another board member by email about a Shozui peice, he said "I am always suspiscious of these things coming out of Japan without being papered."

 

I agree and would have thought that if this genuine it would have been smothered in certificates!!

 

This is good learning for me.... thanks

[Pete Klein]

I believe it's also worth mentioning that if it was genuine it probably would never have made it out of Japan and the price would have been at least $100,000. I have seen many Sato Kansan hakogaki and there has been much rumor as to them often having a certain lack of validity that I believe it is always best to go by certification on any higher end (aka = expensive) piece unless you are schooled to such an extent that you can truely kantei the piece yourself. The actual set that this one was copied off of is in the Natsuo Kano book and Ford is quite correct -- this is a poor copy at best.

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Pete, all,

 

genuine Natsuo fittings do occasionally make it onto the market outside Japan, I've dealt with a few non-sword related items in the past too. But you are probably right regarding the more serious tsuba and other fittings. Some of the prices I've heard quoted are even more astronomical than you suggest though, Pete.

 

I wonder, if I get some nice hako-gaki done I could pass these bits off as " being by the man"? All my own work, after Natsuo. The tsuba was made in'98, I think :? . The kashira was part of a daisho set I completed in '99 and the kozuka was added in 2005.

 

Apologies if I don't post for a couple of days, I will be in transit as of this evening.

regards, Ford