Gunbai?

[ortos]

Hello! I have 20 years now is such an item purchased in Japan. The thing is old, made of wood, old varnishing and decorated with mother of pearl. Length about 48 cm. On one of the sites I found a photo with a similar subject and the article that this is a fan of a samurai officer and is called gunbai-uchiwa.

https://samurai-world.com/gunbai/

Tell me, is this a real subject of the Edo period samurai or a later subject? Thank. Regards to you.

[Fuuten]

From the one photo i'm not sure if i could give a valid opinion on authenticity. But that sure is a warfan.

[IanB]

Yes it is a gunbai uchiwa and almost identical to one on the site quoted. Quite a few early ones are iron, allowing them to be used either as a weapon or, if you were quick enough, to deflect arrows. Having said that, Hideyoshi carried one made of silk gauze that would have had trouble stopping a persistent mosquito. They were also used by the umpires of sumo matches and may well have been of a more or less set pattern for that purpose.

Ian Bottomley

[SteveM]

And, as Ian probably knows, they still are used by sumō referees. 

 

 

[Luc T]

I am not sure, but the mother of pearl and the longer stick could point to a momoyama gunbai

[Justin Grant]

I am not sure, but the mother of pearl and the longer stick could point to a momoyama gunbai

It may be from that jidai, but I'd question the quality of the instrument. This is not the "quality" of craftsman ship for a powerful leader, the components are high end items, but the work is suspect. The insets are all wavy and not a crisp arch or line anywhere. The internal embellishments are not in equal distance to the adjoining component, and the MoP is installed like craft glitter compared to high end devices.

 

It's a neat instrument, but I don't think for a Samurai.

 

Just my opinion, it may be a national treasure.....

[Luc T]

The pictures are too small to see detais.

[Justin Grant]

The pictures are too small to see detais.

Click it, it opens up. That photo shows you all you need to assess the level of craftsmanship of the item. The photos were large enough for you to ascribe a rather old and important date to it, so I'd think you can also judge the quality as would be expected for such an item of this period, considering if Samurai, the level of a Samurai that would have used such an instrument. I'm not disputing the age, I am not sure it was for war or a Samurai.

[ortos]

Thank you all for the answers. I will try to provide more detailed photos one of these days, since the subject is not at hand now.

Click it, it opens up. That photo shows you all you need to assess the level of craftsmanship of the item. The photos were large enough for you to ascribe a rather old and important date to it, so I'd think you can also judge the quality as would be expected for such an item of this period, considering if Samurai, the level of a Samurai that would have used such an instrument. I'm not disputing the age, I am not sure it was for war or a Samurai.

I do not know where the author took the photo of a gunbai from the site to which I gave the link.

https://samurai-world.com/gunbai/

That is, you think that the photos of gunbai-uchiwa presented there are also not related to samurai? Since my gunbai is identical to one of them?

 

With respect to you!

[uwe]

These items are sometimes hard to judge. “Gunbai” were also used by actors in performances...etc. I own one with identical shape, but depicting on one side four kanji and on the reverse a person, clouds and a tree.

I wasn’t able to determine it, so far ????

[ortos]

These items are sometimes hard to judge. “Gunbai” were also used by actors in performances...etc. I own one with identical shape, but depicting on one side four kanji and on the reverse a person, clouds and a tree.

I wasn’t able to determine it, so far ????

https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/天下泰平

If you mean these four kanji,

then they mean that "there are no conflicts and disputes in the country. Stable order and security". This expression seems to be a peculiar characteristic of the Edo period.

[ortos]

Foto

[uwe]

Chris,

 

I´ve not bothered to translate it yet....

 

 

 

 

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

To the top on this one.  

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

[Iekatsu]

These Gunbai are definitely not Momoyama period, I'm not even convinced they are Edo, they are clearly mass produced, likely in the Meiji period. There are a lot of them around and the quality of decoration is rather low.

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

2 hours ago, Iekatsu said:

These Gunbai are definitely not Momoyama period, I'm not even convinced they are Edo, they are clearly mass produced, likely in the Meiji period. There are a lot of them around and the quality of decoration is rather low.

 Thanks @Iekatsu - The three similar red lacquered ones are all different, however.  Circle Mother of Pearl around the MOP checkerboard vs squares, @ortos example is different than the samurai world link as the SW link has a different design at the bottom of the handle.

 

Similar themes like tsuba of certain periods (Peony and butterfly example comes to mind), but perhaps not mass produced?  Thanks for your insights....

 

 

[Iekatsu]

Something can be hand made and still be mass produced, which is what I think we have here. These come up for sale all the time, and do not fetch very high prices in Japan. Here are some more examples:
 

 

 

 

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

1 hour ago, Iekatsu said:

Something can be hand made and still be mass produced, which is what I think we have here. These come up for sale all the time, and do not fetch very high prices in Japan. Here are some more examples:

 

 

 

 

Great examples Thomas!