Utsushi and Yugen - Ford Hallam Videos

[JeffT]

Ford ~

 

Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us. We just viewed it on YouTube for the first time last night.

 

Just so you know, I watched it with my wife, who considers me to be a bit of a sword nut & has no real understanding of why I am obsessed with martial art and sword wielding and so on...

 

And yet she tolerates it with the same compassion she shows everyone.

 

Afterwards, she was as speechless as I... so we perused your website and saw this beautiful creation:

 

http://fordhallam.com/work-dragonflywave.html

 

She being almost as big a fan of dragonflies as I am of swords, spontaneously grabbed a box of colored chalk and drew the most lovely dragonfly on our sidewalk like a child playing with its toy, only stopping her drawing when it was too dark to see anymore.

 

My sincere gratitude for helping bridge the gap between my world and hers. I know you're not Dr. Phil and so on, but I probably owe you a few £ for the help with the missus

 

Anyway, I promise to at least buy you a pint or two if our paths should cross.

 

With head bowed and hands folded,

~ Jeff

[zatoichi]

Hi ford , you are the consummate artist, always amazed when someone can visualize the end result from a solid piece of metal,and draw it out. Great work and a joy to watch. Thank you.

Justin E

[Ford Hallam]

Thank you gentlemen, It's always good to hear the film is well received and enjoyed. And in your case Jeff, that it pleased the missus too. I guess you do owe me a beer or two

 

kind regards,

 

Ford

[Higo-san]

First of all, greetings to you, ladies and gentlemen on this board!

 

It is a great honour to be here on the board as a student and collector of tosogu.

 

After having discovered this board it took me some time to go thorugh all the topics and finally I discovered this one. Ford`s utsushi is really stunning and maybe I can add something useful to this topic (in case no one else has added this before): In the first part, Ford mentions that the backside of the original tsuba remains kind of a mistery since the available publication only shows the frontside of the original tsuba. At this point, I remembered an old auction catalogue in my library. The image attached is a scan from the catalogue of "Nagel Auktionen Stuttgart" No. 29A that took place on June 8 2005 in Stuttgart/Germany.

 

I think the original missing tsuba has been sold at this auction.

 

The internet adress of the auction house is http://www.auction.de; I think there is another auction coming in November.

[John A Stuart]

That is good. Please sign posts with your proper name so that you may be addressed by other than higo-san. Welcome. John

[Higo-san]

Thank you for the hint, John!

 

Chris

[Brian]

Chris,

Good find, and good memory!

I spoke to Ford, and he said that they had recently come across the images too. But a great addition to the thread and the saga of the Tiger. Thanks for sharing.

 

Brian

[Ford Hallam]

Thanks Chris, for that link and the photo. Actually, this sale and the images came to light about a year ago but it would have have made my life so much easier if I'd had them at the beginning Someone else also sent me another black and white photo of the back.

 

We're hoping that at some stage we might reunite the pair, along with my copy, if only for a photo opportunity. It would make a nice conclusion to the film.

 

And co-incidentally the sale date, 8th June, is my birthday :D

[Higo-san]

You are welcome, gentlemen! Next time I will hopefully be a bit faster .

 

Chris

[Andi B.]

Hello Chris,

nice to meet you here - I'll be at Rumpler's next month again...

 

Hello Ford,

I thought, the original tsuba was lost and no longer existing.

So I'm interested to hear, why such a elaborately copy was made, although the original is still "available".

Did nobody know where it can be found?

[Soten_Fan]

Bob mentioned today at the Leeds meeting that Ford's version of the back-side is more elaborate than the original

 

And I finally had the chance to hold it in my hands! It looks and feels stunning!

 

I saw other tsubas by Ford today at the NBTHK meeting at the Royal Armouries in Leeds. As an Araki Tomei fan, I loved the one with the foxtail millet! Is it OK to post close-up pics of the pieces?

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Andi B

 

When Bob Morrisson first got the wakizashi tsuba he tried to find the dai tsuba also. It was only after about 2 years that he approached me with the idea to make an utsushi. We were pretty sure the original was still around but we didn't know where so it wasn't available to us.

 

But it wasn't just about making a copy it was also about creating a detailed film that would serve as a teaching documentary to help collectors better understand how these work were made in the past. With Bob's backing we were able to produce something unique that will last forever as an introduction to kinko-work.

 

Hello Dimitri

 

I'm sure that I Bob was ok with you taking photographs in Leeds then it will be fine to post close ups here

[takamatsu]

Dear Ford,

 

I just watched the video and have to say: I'm deeply impressed! It is a truly masterwork and changed my view on tsubas enormous. From now on, I will spend more time on searching for high quality tsubas for my collection.

Thanks a lot for 'making me see the difference'!

[Ford Hallam]

I see this thread has just topped 10 000 views. :D It's quite amazing that so many members here have now seen the film. Thanks to all for the very kind and generous comments and a huge vote of thanks to Bob Morrison for making it happen in the first place.

 

Brian, do I get a prize now?

[Tai1z]

Dear Ford,

Truly inspirational. There is remarkable example of artistry, science, patience, imagination, problem solving here. As a father and teacher it was very special to see your son working away at something in the background while you worked. The film was moving in so many ways. Thank you. Grateful.

Glenn T

[Darcy]

Oh you guys are all jerks for not telling me about this!

 

I am only finding out about it now.

 

First, really masterful work Ford and it is a wonderful video to show the technical mastery and artistry that goes into making something like this.

 

Also amazing that there are hints of the dai being around somewhere. Also, 6,500 euros on the auction page. Yow. Putting them back together would be magnificent, but that they were separate in the first place allowed this marvelous utsushi to be made and this video to be shared with us all and that is a very very valuable thing to have had.

 

I found the sho tiger sometime in 2003 walking by an antiques store on Sherbrooke st. in Montreal. It was part of a set of about 16 tsuba or so, some of which were quite nice but this one was my personal favorite. I used it in my screensaver. The owner was a woman who lived nearby, I can't remember exactly how they came into her care but based on what I saw in the store which was I think six, I visited her and bought the whole set.

 

I didn't know it set all this in motion until today. The tsuba had been on my mind recently because of these tiger menuki I photographed recently and I always wondered about the mei and history and if it would all work out.

 

So I kind of feel like a proud parent seeing the care and investment that Bob and Ford both put into this. My favorite part I think is Ford's speech before putting the mei into the tsuba. The emotional investment in making this was really clear.

 

And it's really nice to know that for all the people who have stripped apart koshirae and sold off the parts, or separated swords from their mounts or thrown away the paper and the history, that collectors like Bob exist who devote themselves to trying to make things right and complete again. And to have made it available for the rest of us to share.

 

Hats off to everyone. Loved every minute.

 

I hope the dai surfaces one day so they can be put again side by side.

 

I wish I could recall more about how they had come into the possession of the woman who owned them in Montreal. I think these may have become separate because she had possibly parted out the tsuba and sold some to me without the understanding that the dai belonged with the sho. It's possible that someone else came along at a later date and purchased the dai from her with the same wondering about the sho. I didn't know at the time the dai existed or this was part of a set. I seem to remember trying to track it down for Bob after the fact at his request but I wasn't able to locate her again I think. 10 years ago now so hard to remember. How she got them, I think it was inherited through the family or had been the husband's. But I can't remember now unless I told Bob before and he kept a copy.

 

Anyway that fills in maybe a little bit more of the history. The dai ending up in Germany is interesting, I seem to recall being unable to get in touch with her after Bob figured out there was a dai that went with this, so it's possible she had moved to Europe after and the dai came out of hiding over there. I hope I'm not inventing any of that.

 

This is a cool hobby.

[Darcy]

Watched it twice again today. Showed it to my parents so they could appreciate what goes into this.

 

My Dad said, "That's it, I'm never picking up anything like that again." Too worried about damaging something exquisite.

 

So impressed.

 

Also it brought to mind the saying "the sword finds its owner." This tsuba found where it had to be to make this wonderful thing come into being. Again hats off to Bob and Ford both for making this happen.

[william m]

Incredible. Thank you very much for posting this. I had wondered how some tsuba were made but I would never had thought that such intricacies were done with chisels.

[ancientnoob]

Ford,

 

I was not aware that craftsman of your skill level, still existed in the modern world. I suppose the UK has their own living national treasure.

 

[Bob M.]

Hello Everyone ,

 

This film now on You Tube -

 

Easy to watch in Full Screen !

 

Please pass on to other sites /contacts...

 

Thanks !

[johnnyi]

Absolutely wonderful and inspiring! I'm very new to learning about tsuba, and  this film has radically changed my appreciation of this art form . Thank you 

[manfrommagnum]

Total awesomeness!

 

"The son rises from west to east.

 

The tiger is the steel

 

or the steel is a reflection of the tiger" haiku to you

[flo06]

Wonderful work, a real masterpiece.

Thanks for sharing Ford.

[Surfson]

I loved that video when I saw it in the past Ford.  Can I ask you about obtaining your work?  Your website only lists items that have been sold.  Also, do you do custom work?  Cheers, Bob

[Ford Hallam]

I assume it's ok to post a link here, Brian?,  but if you're interested in seeing some film of how a traditional fuigo is used to melt copper and copper alloys you might find this to be of interest.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOVOJDDShwU

[Vermithrax16]

Ford Hallam was kind enough to open up his Patreon channel to NMB to show this minogame themed tsuba (disclosure: it's my piece) by Tomohide. A nice video and great detail is pointed out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvnRoOgsOaM&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR0BsR2ADYoK0jIPj3CB9cXGeZw_ImNskxM_mCmgIfI3JhIHm3QrGETJYmA

[Stephen]

N/A

[Ford Hallam]

ok, I've made that film public now, so anyone can see it...even if they're too tight to offer the price of a cup of coffee for this sort of quality content.    'Cos everything should be free on the internet and I have an obligation to freely share all I've learned in 40 years as a professional craftsman.

 

here's direct link.

 

But seriously;

 

If you're at all interesting to learning about the finer points of refined metalworking and the subtleties of classical Japanese metalwork, you'll find an unparalleled collection of films on both technical and the aesthetic aspects of the tradition on my subscription channel. Join us, for only as little as $5 a month and help grow the world's first such resource. 

https://www.patreon.com/FordHallam

 

Thanks.

[Stephen]

mods would you fix the link

[Ford Hallam]

Stephen everyone else can follow my link to see it. Only you are unable to see my films....     because you've been a bad boy.