"Good Bones"??

[Ford Hallam]

Gentlemen,

 

far be it for me to try and curtail debate but at this point we can really only speculate. As I pointed out as yet there has been no scientific analysis of these guards to determine whether or not what we see in fact what we imagine. It could quite reasonably be the reverse of what is commonly thought, ie; that in reality the lumps are of purer iron and thus actually softer. The irregularities caused by processes other than the commonly imagined abrasion etc. fwiw. This is my own theory.

 

 

Even the experimental work I'm engaged in will only yield some more possibilities to consider. It's only once we have a better understanding of the material and composition of specific old guards can we try and fit experimental findings together with analysis and observation and make well founded claims

[Surfson]

Thanks for a lively debate gents. I certainly don't intend to perform the experiment, though I do think that the pressure and hardness of the buffing material could be selected to approximate those in real life, and my gut still tells me that wear is an important factor in the evolution of the shape of a tsuba. I'm guessing that most samurai did not wear silk on a daily basis, so we would need a edo clothing expert on the research team. Cheers, Surf

[Mark Green]

Great topic Gang.

 

While I do believe that wear could bring the bones 'out' a bit, rust and cleaning is very likely to have brought out a lot more. Do the 'bones' rust slower? Anyone ever noticed this?

Most of these tsuba were cut with a chisel. Maybe these spots were just desirable to the artists of the time. So, were made to show. Or maybe the artists were wrecking their chisel edges on these spots, so avoided them in the finish work.

 

Ford, in all your years of making tsuba, have you ever made a sukashi totally by chisel?

I am experimenting with this, with wrought iron, and home made steel. Maybe I will see some reason for it.

 

Most tsuba were made with the second grade tamahagane. Most of it seems to have many impurities. If you think about some guys making steel in the yard behind the forge, who knows, what ended up in it. And again, these same guys, may have added something to create these 'bones' in their final product. They do seem to be pleasing to the collector. Perhaps, they were just as pleasing and desirable to the consumer of the time.

[Henry Wilson]

Here is some tea ware that makes me think "bones"

[sanjuro]

Henry.

 

Dems bones fer sure..... but surely it would be a wickedly difficult thing to drink out of........

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Mark,

 

no, I've never made a sukashi tsuba by chiselling out the unwanted steel.

 

Some early sukashi tsuba show some evidence that the inner walls were chiselled but this is by no means evident in all pre Edo period guards. I believe the idea that chiselling was the usual way sukashi guards were made is claimed because we don't have any solid evidence that piercing saws were in use. To be frank though I think it's not all that persuasive to claim one possibility merely because of the absence of evidence for another method. It may well be that both approaches were in use or were even used together.

 

There is sufficient evidence to prove that piercing saws that were based on a wire thread and used an abrasive grit to cut/grind were is use by jade carvers at the time, certainly on the mainland. Personally I think it quite possible this saw piercing technique could have been adapted by tsuba-shi.

[Mark Green]

Yes, that is for sure a fact that edo period, and likely a lot of sukashi from mid 1700's on, were wire saw cut. But not all, I'm sure. That was a new technology that was hard to produce, and/or acquire. If you think about the time it would take to produce a hardened wire saw blade???? Or use a wire and some kind of abrasive. People that use them, know how long a modern one lasts. You could likely chisel out a full sukashi in half the time.

I should have been more clear.

File technology got better as well.

All of this just makes it more likely that the 'bones' were wanted from the start.

[sanjuro]

Gentlemen.

 

An observation for what it may add to the discussion. I am primarily interested in tachi, and whilst I have several excellent iron tachi tsuba, none of them, and very few that I have handled over the years exhibit what we describe as 'bones'. To the contrary, the iron in these tsuba appears to be more refined and more even in consistency than many (albeit later) katana tsuba. This has led me, rightly or wrongly toward the preliminary conclusion that since 'formal' tsuba such as tachi tsuba, were logically produced as utilitarian as opposed to decorative items, 'bones' were not required for function, although some authorities advocate that they added strength to a tsuba. Informal (for want of a better term) tsuba on the other hand may have bones and are much admired (at least today) for that tea culture feature.

One would hazard that regardless of the original reason for including bones in a tsuba, that this has since become an aethetic feature rather than a requirement for function. I admit to liking the effect produced by bones, since it lends a rustic appearance that I like many find rather pleasing.

 

Your comments would be appreciated.

 

I might qualify the above a little by explaining that by Tachi I refer to a sword slung edge downward rather than the later tachi mounted as dai katana, many of which have iron tsuba complete with bones.

[watsonmil]

Dear Chuck, Robert S. , Keith et al,

The answer I think to the question of " Bones " , can be summed up by reading the answer given in this article. It is as good an answer as one might find and rather than me plagerize, or pharaphrase it, ... just read the well written document :

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 808AAUJAhN

... Ron Watson

[sanjuro]

Thanks Ron.

 

A handy little article......... it certainly points to the root of the aesthetic. The practical application of bones still eludes me to some extent however, since we are not even sure that the bones are harder or softer than the surrounding material. As far as an unhomomgenous substance rather than a homogenous substance goes, I can appreciate the katchushi view that bones in armour plate would serve a purpose. In a tsuba I think that practicality is somewhat lost due to the lack of area and the questionable belief that a tsuba with bones would better withstand the full brunt of a blow during use. Its an interesting point to ponder. :D

[Steve Waszak]

One or two thoughts here on the matter of "bones" in iron tsuba...

 

It seems likely to me that, initially, anyway, tekkotsu were a by-product of the type/constitution of the iron used by various metal-workers in their production of tsuba. Since iron tsuba were being produced from at least the Kamakura Period onwards, we might expect to find a range of guards presenting with anywhere from zero tekkotsu to rather a lot of it over the centuries. However, I suspect that, in these earlier times, too much tekkotsu might be seen potentially as a structural flaw, or conversely, as an aesthetic one. If we remember that in the 14th, 15th, and early part of the 16th centuries a more definitely Chinese aesthetic sense held much sway in Japan, the various subtle aesthetic principles we might tie to the expression afforded by tekkotsu (yugen, shibusa, sabi, wabi, etc...), and which would have been greatly appreciated and sought after by the late 16th century, would not in fact have been likely to be seen as a desirable trait in an iron guard. I don't think it's an accident that when we think of the various classic forms of Kyoto tsuba (i.e. "refined," high-culture tsuba), we rarely find traditions known for their use of tekkotsu (yes, I do think it is a conscious inclusion in tsuba design and production; more on this in a moment). Consider Kyo-sukashi, Kyo-Shoami, Heianjo-sukashi, and Umetada tsuba: none of these "schools" is recognized for its tekkotsu. In fact, only the ko-Shoami "school" can be seen to incorporate tekkotso in their guards, and even they did not do so to anywhere near the degree that the various Owari Province tsuba smiths did.

 

Why might the ko-Shoami group have utilized tekkotsu, then? I believe it has everything to do with the Tea Culture which was utterly dominant among the most powerful taste-makers in Momoyama Japan. At no other time before or since was there such an intertwining of the ascendence of Tea with that of such potent martial men as Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu, along with "lesser" bushi like Hosokawa Sansai, Fukushima Masanori, and of course, Furuta Oribe. For these bushi, Tea was immensely important. And with that importance came the aesthetics attached to it.

 

In much the same way, then, that Tea aesthetics impacted the evolution/development of the various ceramic types utilized in the Tea Ceremony, those same aesthetics, I believe, found expression in the tsuba of the day. Since those aesthetic principles manifest in ceramics as not only simple formal asymmetry, but also the deliberate "marring" of the surface and structure of the tea vessel in question in order to realize the sought after "Tea Expression," so to did they manifest in the Yamakichibei, Hoan, and Kanayama tsuba of that period. If one has access to enough Yamakichibei tsuba to do a side-by-side-by-side comparison, one can begin to see patterns of tekkotsu in terms of their type, amount, and specific location on the tsuba. They exist in various concentrations and degree according to location on the guard. Viewing many Yamakichibei tsuba at once affords such a realization, if one is observant and conscious of what one is seeing there. Of all the tsuba schools and traditions, Yamakichibei, I believe, most powerfully express the same aesthetic principles guiding the artistic production of Momoyama ceramics; and they are no less conscious in the specifics of their design and creation than are the products of kilns like those of Shigaraki and Iga, along with the Seto, Bizen, Oribe, etc...

 

Let's remember that one of the most important castle towns of the Momoyama Period was Kiyosu in Owari. At various times, Nobunaga, Hideyoshi, and Masanori, among others, all were lords of Kiyosu. Yamakichibei and Hoan are both thought to have been armorers and tsubako in Kiyosu; Yamakichibei is noted to have been in the service of Nobunaga as an armorer and tsubako. Kanayama tsuba are understood to have been made in Owari province as well, as were, of course, Owari tsuba (also known for its fine use of tekkotsu).

 

In my view, tekkotsu are specifically, if not exclusively linked not only to Momoyama Japan (whose aesthetic is decidedly not Chinese [unlike so much of what we see in Muromachi times]), but to Owari Province as well. This isn't to say we cannot find tekkotsu in tsuba made outside of this period or locale, but it is to say that Momoyama Owari is dominant when it comes to the conscious employment of tekkotsu toward a deliberate aesthetic intimately associated with Tea Culture.

 

I have included a few photos here of prominent Momoyama Tea utensils, along with a couple of Momoyama tsuba with tekkotsu. Note the surface expression in each. Then consider the use of tekkotsu in Yamakichibei, Hoan, and Kanayama tsuba. In my view, the crossover is inescapable, especially since so much of the aesthetic principles involved were expressly written of in the Momoyama Period itself (rather than merely centuries later...).

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[Ford Hallam]

excellent post, Steve

[chuck]

Wow.

 

I've been sick for a few days, and I'm just finally getting around to checking this thread... wow.

 

I had no idea the can of worms I was cracking open there.

 

You guys make my brain all hurty.

 

Now I know all about bones, the theoretical abrasive effects of long term exposure to silk, the aesthetics of asymmetrical teacups, and the religious significance of flower arrangement.

 

Thanks.

 

Seriously, thanks! I love learning stuff.

 

peace.

[Mark Green]

Great post Steve. That sure makes some sense of it.

Thanks.