Tsuba with tree motif

[Itomagoi]

Hello,

 

I bought this tsuba and it was delivered today. I like it quite well and maybe one of you can tell me something more about it. It's still very faint to see a mei on both sides.

 

Dimensions: 73,5 x 4,2 mm

[kissakai]

If you try taking an image of the mei at differing angles it may show up better

[Itomagoi]

I try, but I can hardly see it.

[Ganko]

Looks like the left side may be Shigetsugu saku?

[Gunome]

Maybe Yamashiro 山城 on right side ?!

and on left side maybe shigetsugu as proposed or shigefusa ?

[Itomagoi]

Thanks for the translation Tom and Sebastien.

I can't see much of anything there :-)

How do you like the tsuba?

[Ford Hallam]

Looks very much like modern hobby work to my eyes. The essentially unworked flat ares of the plate in the thicker parts of the tree trunk are a big give-away for starters. The nakago-ana is unconvincing also, as it the mimi. 

 

No idea what is going on with that cloud plonked right at the top in the middle and the carving there is pretty amateurish, I think.

 

Overall the design seems to be ignorant of many basics of Japanese design, probably revealing a poor attempt at copying a couple of tsuba in an attempt to create a mash up/new design.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Ford, can you tell us what we should be looking for as the basics of Japanese design?

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Ken, I've got some very useful teaching material that was used by Ikeda Suematsu Sensei, the noted scholar and father of the polisher Ikeda Nagamasa.

 

One of the sheets of photos is exactly the classic pine tree motif. I'm planning a series of film lectures on these plates I have but will photograph this one and post it here this week-end with a commentary.

[Ken-Hawaii]

That's great, Ford! Looking forward to learning!