johnb Posted March 10, 2011 Report Posted March 10, 2011 My wife thinks I have completely lost the plot. She came home the other night to find me sitting in front of the coffee table, licking tsuba. I have Jim Gilbert to thank for my apparent lapse into madness. http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/modkatch.htm I digress, the tsuba posted here is one I bought about 7 or 8 years ago for about 10 bucks. I put in a drawer and promptly forgot about it. I'd be very interested in more information. I suspect it is quite modern, although I'd like to be wrong....By the way, it is completely tasteless. (In flavour that is.) JohnB Quote
sanjuro Posted March 10, 2011 Report Posted March 10, 2011 JohnB. If you are right - and personally I dont know one way or the other, that this is a relatively modern tsuba, then it sure looks as if its trying to look a lot older. The nakago ana and surrounding punch marks say that it may well have been used. However, the purpose of my post is to discover what the sukashi design represents. I can usually make out what is being portrayed but this one eludes me.'Shapeless holes' in tsuba is not a recognised design feature, so I'm assuming that no matter how abstract its portrayal may be there is a theme for the sukashi. A random thought......... Is 'shapeless holes' style in tsuba the same as 'dead tree' style in bonsai???????? :D I am in mind here of the fact that I'm talking to a man who licks tsuba. :? Quote
johnb Posted March 10, 2011 Author Report Posted March 10, 2011 I've been struggling with that one too. It seems to me that there are three components to the design. The three to the left seem to represent one item...I have no idea what. The one on the top...a cloud?. The one on the right looks to me very much like .......a ray gun? (Gotta stop licking these tsuba). Johnb Quote
docliss Posted March 10, 2011 Report Posted March 10, 2011 Are these not stylised cloud formations, modified to incorporate the two ryō-hitsu? Such a design feature is commonly found on tsuba of the Shōami group, which this one surely is. John L. Quote
sanjuro Posted March 10, 2011 Report Posted March 10, 2011 Usually when I see this sort of sukashi, I immediately think tea ceremony or sencha. (Dont ask......). Wild theory here ................ Area 1 the group of three sukashi reminds me of sencha gear in some way, a ladle and cloth perhaps. Area 2 could be a cloud of steam, and area 3 a stylised iron kettle Tetsubin. I dont buy the stylised cloud formation theory. The area to the left is too structured to be anything as random as a cloud. What religious/cultural/ mythical/aesthetic significance would a group of stylised clouds portray anyhow? A shape for the sake of having a shape? No........... I am inclined to think that the stylised cloud theory is just a convenience for those who cannot figure out the design. But hey ...... what do I know? tsuba are not really my thing. Quote
John A Stuart Posted March 11, 2011 Report Posted March 11, 2011 I think the cloud representation is correct. Attached quickly snapped. John Quote
sanjuro Posted March 11, 2011 Report Posted March 11, 2011 This one I buy the cloud theory. Moon and clouds ......... No problem because it looks like clouds and moon. JohnB's tsuba? ......still not even slightlyconvinced. Quote
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