What are unusual or rare subjects for menuki?

[doug e lewis]

Very nice tsuba, Henry. Playful puppys ain't exactly a 220lb. fighting Tosa Inu, tho!

 

Franco, that makes alot of sense re women being a distraction in a fight. Total focus on your adversary, along with a Zen state of "empty mind" would be essential. Such was tressed by my sensei in Shoto-kan karate training.

 

as for "boots" --- the expression "my dogs are tired" meaning "dogs" as ones feet, I read in Smithsonian Mag. or similar publication that the term originated during colonial America when dog skin was used to make shoes/boots because they were supposed to be durable and of the softest leather; very comfortable.

 

I guess I haven't read anything about Japanese using war dogs like the Mongols or Romans did. Only as guard or hunting dogs, or companions with the small ones.

[Carlo Giuseppe Tacchini]

what bugs me [can't help the pun] is no human women menuki

 

I once saw menuki for wakizashi with Hotei and Okame, but I don't know how much this fits with "human".

 

Marishiten as well may not fit interely the "human" condition still she's present in late works.

[Mantis dude]

You would think there would be some feminine themes- is it not true that many tanto were carried by samurai women? Obviously where the hello kity menuki on the previous page came from.... no disrespect to any female readers of course.

[doug e lewis]

Ah, but before the tachi was replace by the uchi-gatana a tanto was just the extra sword a mounted samurai would carry. Women usually very familar with use of the naginata as their primary defensive weapon, could even use a tachi or katana, if necessary. In Koto times a tanto was not primarily a women's weapon, tho of course they used it. There are exceptions, of course. I have read stories of women who rode to battle in do-maru, using a bow and tachi like any other samurai of the Classical Eras.

 

I have read that in Shinto times and after it was common for them to keep a tosu hidden.

Wil check my references when I get back from errands i have put off all morning because of the NMB. Love it!

[Chishiki]

A Menuki, ... or for that matter ANY Japanese Art rarely depicts " OWLS ". They are considered an omen of bad luck, ... and when depicted usually they are shown with their back to the viewer.

... Ron Watson

 

Hi Ron and everyone. Would like to share these items with you. The fuchi gashira are lovely quality, and note how the owl's head is protruding above the kashira.

 

Regards Mark

[Mark Green]

I have some turtles

[watsonmil]

Dear Mark & Mark,

Sounds like a bloody Law Firm or a Clothing Retailer, .... never-the-less you two guys made my evening, and probably a few other members' evening as well. Very nice for you both to share with the rest of us . I can't honestly say which I prefer ! Now all I'm waiting for is to see the nude ladies menuki. God that didn't sound right !

... Ron Watson

[Mantis dude]

I think so far we have proven that every theme has been used except geisha and strippers on fittings.... wait, I can't remember but have I seen real shungru sword fittings? They might have been modern, I didn't pay attention. Some of the older collection books like Naunton and a few others have some great menuki pictures along with others where I have seen a lot of different themes. I remember seeing snakes in one of those (one mentioned before). Maybe a set of menuki straight bars I saw were really stripper poles!

 

Poles

http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/130801640

[ububob]

Love those turtles,Mark! :D

[Mark Green]

Thanks Bob, Ya, me too, and I almost got crazy a few years ago and sold them.

I have some pretty Ho birds too. I plan to do a matching tsuba one day.

[chuck]

Given the high numbers of ocean themed fittings we've all seen - shells, waves, fish, octopi, crabs, shrimp, lobsters, etc. etc. - and given the Japanese propensity for whaling (and even the use of whale baleen as tsuka-ito), I'm surprised I've never seen any whaling themed fittings - no whales, harpoons, piles of flensed blubber lovingly carved from shakudo and gold, nothing of the sort.

 

Kinda puzzles me.

 

--chuck--

[Curran]

Whale menuki exist. I've seen them, just as I have a nice whale tsuba and two or three nice whale kozuka.

 

I don't collect menuki at all, but on some level have always been tempted by this set:

http://js-samurai-art.com/SHOP/30006.html

 

Maybe just makes me hungry....

[Mark Green]

That's a good point Chuck.

I don't think the Japanese started mass killing whales until modern times.

They weren't much for deep water sailing till very late.

 

Hey Curran,

Can we please see some pics of the whale stuff. I for one would love to see them, and any others you know of.

[Mantis dude]

Ok I am running into all these items. I think these are good size owl menuki

http://page7.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/g88068070. No more until I find female fittings, did see some but they are "repros" so those don't count.

[nagamaki - Franco]

Thar she blows ......... http://art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=37573

 

A look through past Sotheby's & Christie's catalogs should reveal at least a few whale themed tosogu. And I seem to recall Ford, perhaps ???, or one of those iron brush blokes , working on a Whale tsuba.

[Ford Hallam]

Dear Mark & Mark,

Sounds like a bloody Law Firm or a Clothing Retailer, .... never-the-less you two guys made my evening, and probably a few other members' evening as well. Very nice for you both to share with the rest of us . I can't honestly say which I prefer ! Now all I'm waiting for is to see the nude ladies menuki. God that didn't sound right !

... Ron Watson

 

all righty then...I'll get right to it. I'm thinking silver, suitably toned for the skin and glossy shakudo with the finest hairline engraving for the hair. Tasteful poses, probably from the rear...coquettish and coy at the same time.

[chuck]

Thar she blows ......... http://art.thewalters.org/viewwoa.aspx?id=37573

 

A look through past Sotheby's & Christie's catalogs should reveal at least a few whale themed tosogu. And I seem to recall Ford, perhaps ???, or one of those iron brush blokes , working on a Whale tsuba.

 

Ok, I stand corrected. Wow, that's a beautiful tsuba.

 

peace.

[Mark Green]

That is a pretty tsuba.

Not sure the artist had ever seen a whale though.

 

And yes, Ford has made a wonderful looking whale tsuba. A big blue whale if I remember correctly.

You can see it here: http://picasaweb.google.com/tsubaman/My ... 7452992754

[doug e lewis]

Ford-san, some beautiful tosogu.

 

To touch on a prior posting : have you ever seen, or considered making, a tsuba or menuki with a Shunga theme?

[Grey Doffin]

A prior posting on the theme.

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8074&p=66131&hilit=shunga#p66131

Grey

[ububob]

Thanks for the smile Grey I can hear the Animal House gang chanting in the distance, Shunga! Shunga! Shunga! :D

[chuck]

Found a pic of the Kappa tsuba at Flying Cranes:

 

http://www.trocadero.com/flyingcranes/i ... store.html

 

I'm thinking for menuki to go with this: cucumbers in green copper? Anyone chance across cucumber menuki?

 

peace.

[jason_mazzy]

Brian

 

I came across a set of Elephant menuki, they are the first i have seen. I listed them for sale on eBay, check them out

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :MESELX:IT

 

any comments, good or bad welcome

 

 

great elephants. they r my favorite animal, and have never really seen them as a theme for Japanese swords. I often wondered if it was because they presented power but not grace. and grace and movement were important to the samurai culture.

[raaay]

HI All

 

late post on the unusual Menkui theme ! Crab Menuki

 

 

regards

Ray

[sanjuro]

Ray.

 

Actually crabs are a fairly common theme for menuki. A reference to the Heike crabs which are supposed to wear on their shells the faces of the dead Taira drowned at Dan no Ura at the climax of the Gempei wars. There are some really nice examples around which have been much copied by the tosogu fakers. The example you posted looks from what can be seen to be fairly high quality. (Dont you hate how the tsuka maki hides all the details?) :D

[Curran]

More elephant menuki- this time in shakudo:

 

[Toryu2020]

Mighty big crabs you got there Ray!

And speaking of menuki, we usually see the three crab combo in gold or shakudo copied from early kinko works. This is a very refreshing example, a single crab and of considerable size - I wonder if the one on the reverse gives any indication of being male or female?

-t

[chuck]

Found MOOSE menuki for sale! They gotta be rare!

 

http://js-samurai-art.com/SHOP/30007.html

 

also at the same site: FROGS!!

 

http://js-samurai-art.com/SHOP/30004.html

 

peace.

[watsonmil]

Dear Chuck,

Dear God, ... you gotta be a city boy ! That is NOT a moose, the menuki pictured are a species of deer found in Japan. Please if you visit the north, ... do not go a-hunting .

 

... Ron Watson

 

PS > Regarding the other Menuki, ... perhaps " Jean " would comment on the specific species :D .

[John A Stuart]

Actually 麋 could be moose, elk or any big deer. The kanji for these menuki as per the web-site are 大鹿 meaning big deer. Of course as Volvo has proven there are no moose in Japan. Look moose-like in a way though. :lol: John