New article on appreciating Tsuba by Markus Sesko !

As posted today on Facebook :

Historic overview of aesthetic requirements for a tsuba

In two parts.

http://markussesko.wordpress.com/2014/1 ... ba-part-i/

http://markussesko.wordpress.com/2014/1 ... a-part-ii/

KM

Great write-ups, as usual, of course.

Thanks, Henk-Jan.

Ken

Thanks Henk-Jan and thanks Markus!!

Best Regards

For those who don't want to wait until others tell them where to look, or those without a FB account: you can subsrcibe to Markus' blog here.

Markus does such nice work!

Thanks Henk-Jan and thanks Markus!!

 

Best Regards

+1

nice write up thanks for posting

Hi Everyone,

Markus did a wonderful job writing these two long blog articles on the topic of tsuba. I have read the first article and planning to read the second during the down time at Japanese sword show this weekend. The information about the early koshigatana, uchigatana, and tsuba-gatana when applied to what little is known about Ko-Kinko tosogu is very interesting to ponder.

I was particularly glad for the tea ceremony inclusion and for his touching upon wabi-sabi. It took me back to an Aikido book I read years ago which dedicated a chapter on the samurai tradition of the tea ceremony, the materials selected, construction, items for adornment, service, participation, and even the method for showing the way to the cha-shitsu. Sublimely written, I could only shudder at the sublimity of the act itself. Thanks for taking me back there, and for an awesome site.

Markus, thanks so much for bringing to the forefront of tsuba studies the benefit/need to understand the larger historical as well as cultural context in which the designs of the tsuba were "forged" under. I am starting to understand that part of the larger confusion over the current classification of tsuba into particular schools is often directly caused by viewing tsuba under a sort of intellectual vacuum.

Excerpts from a very interesting book on a somewhat very related field of study:

"It is common in 20th century writing on world ceramics in both English and Japanese to find an intellectual absolutism that privileges the beauty of the object over its historical context. Such writing is based on the assumption that aesthetics are objective and universal. This supposition forms the base for the ranking of art according to standards that are nominally above boundaries of time, space, or other markers of difference. It is presupposed that objects "speak for themselves," making connoisseurship the most viable method of studying art. The ultimate goal is to distinguish high-quality objects from fakes or those of low quality.

One critic has argued this narrow approach is marked by the following characteristics: concentration on a narrow body of subject matter; focus on individual producers; reliance on restricted methodology; and indifference to structures of power inherent in the subject matter. Postware research on **** shows all these characteristics, in its consistent focus on...lineage; fixation with certain key figures...; repeated references to the same small group of objects and documents paired with disregard for "outside" evidence; and denial of the role of tea practitioners and (smiths) in constructing particularistic histories at key historical junctures.

The origins of this approach can be found in the post-Enlightenment rejection of tradition and embrace of creative imagination, individual genius, and scientific rationalism. Reproducing the works of the past became anathema, and imitation-once the central skill of the artist-was cast aside as 'a childish, senseless enterprise'. The work of the genius was said to occur in the vacuum of originality rather than the field of rote-learned forms and inherited styles. For early 20th century Japanese intellectuals, this epistemological framework necessitated rethinking the history of their nation's cultural production to highlight the triumph of innovative individuals rather than the dominance of conservative schools. This task was urgent because Japan was already under suspicion as a notorious 'borrower' of technology and culture from other societies. One British diplomat comment in 1900, 'It must be remembered that Japan has never originated anything.' Proving otherwise became the goal of many historians, artists, critics, and government officials. While Japan's fortunes improved as a colonial and capitalist Great Power, Japanese intellectuals moved from proving that Japan was on par with the West to demonstrating that the former was a superior civilization. 'Traditional' arts....found a new identity in the nationalist climate of the interwar years as living proof of Japan's cultural uniqueness. The understanding of the *** (think tsuba) tradition (think schools) that emerged out of that period has survived to the present with few changes."

Anyone who finds the above interesting? I myself have grown up hearing about the uniqueness of Japan, and feeling some pride in my heritage. But just as interesting is when one consider what is also going on in China and it's arts/culture/movies these days, and where that will be in a few years...