really funky piece on fleabay...

[rkg]

Ok, I'll probably get beat up about bringing up a current fleabay auction, but check this out:

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/4267-Japanese-S ... 4aafeb2a77

 

rkg

(Richard George)

[Brian]

Nah..this is one of the few places that does allow active auction discussions...as long as they aren't about price.

And yes..that is some mundo groovy tsuba there....man. :lol:

Pretty cool use of mixed metals there though. Anyone know how many are represented and which ones?

 

Brian

[Pete Klein]

I'll get my bell bottoms out of hibernation...

 

BTW Brian -- you are true Head...

[estcrh]

I rarely notice tsuba but this one made me stop and take a look, maybe that was the intention of its creator.

[ububob]

Deserves to be on the cover of the next KTK publication.

[Soshin]

Hi All,

 

I would say the tsuba is likely the work of the late Umetada branch school in Edo during the late Edo Period. Their were a few different late Umetada artisans in Edo using the Myoju go with kao. I would need to do some book searching to provide more details. When they did sign Umetada they would often do the hippie thing and use a plum blossom stamp plus (忠) or use the original kanji (梅忠). The twin kamon design is often seen in both iron and soft metal. What I see in terms of metals are copper, silver, gold, and shakudo. I have what I think is a late Umetada school work in iron with soft metal inlays with a simlar two kamon design. Just my two cents. Overall I like the tsuba thanks for posting.

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

[bluboxer]

That's a pretty hip piece.I have never seen a dragon curled up all sleepy/happy like this either.

 

David, you mentioned a twin kamon.Is the dragon considered a kamon?

[Soshin]

Hi Alan,

 

I checked my books and refreshed my memory. The name often repeated by the branch (waki) school in Edo was Myoshin not Myoju. If you remember Myoshin was the 3rd generation master after Myoju the famous 2ed generation master of the school in Kyoto. They would often sign the school name as discussed above but would use the go Myoshin plus kao. Sorry for the confusion. I am not sure why this tsuba is just signed Myoju plus kao.

The dragon while cool isn't the second kamon. The second kamon is the triple diamond shape called matsukawabishi (松皮菱) in Japanese. The design extends across both side of the tsuba.

 

Can you see the two completely different (not variations of the same kamon) kamon design on my tsuba which I think is a late Umetada school work? (Sorry for the focus issue in the photo.)

 

 

 

 

Yours truly,

David Stiles

[bluboxer]

I see it now,thanks.

[rkg]

I've never seen a piece like this before - it would have been interesting to see what the koshirae that went along with this piece looked like.

 

rkg

[Ted Tenold]

More like P-Funkadelic. George Clinton gives two thumbs up!