Tsuba motif

[Mantis dude]

Hi all,

 

I saw this tsuba a few weeks ago, I think on ebay? and it was described as 2 mantises. I didn't see it. Well the owner emailed me when he found my site and asked me if it is a mantis. My "mantis dude" opinion is that it isn't. I don't see it. I would expect to see antanae, the famed claws and 2 sets of back legs. I can't id that in this tsuba. I see a goose on the left hand side, but that is all I could recognize. Anyone care to guess as to what it is? I am away and don't have any books to skim through. Thanks.

[Gaijin]

How about this ???

[Mantis dude]

Wait let me take some more medications..............ok, well, no me thinks that is pushing it, especially since the feets are above the belly. oh yeah Usually a round dot is a dew drop (top of seppa dai). Maybe I need more meds??? I will continue to ingest......the things I do for "art"

[Gaijin]

if you think medication will help you to see what i see than you should keep taking it

 

believe it or not i can accept that this is mantis design tsuba...without medication

[Curran]

Fairly common Akasaka design often seen later in other schools.

 

Look through the Akasaka section of the tsuba taikan. I know there is one of this design in there. I sold one that I would place as around 6th or 7th generation.

[kusunokimasahige]

I have rotated it and it has to be a mantis... cant make anything else of it...

 

KM

[Rich T]

grasses of the Musashino plains and a wild geese ( bird is the hitsu ana on the left ) Probably Akasaka, probably mid Tadatoki era. Curran is on the money

 

jmtcw

 

Rich T.

[Mantis dude]

I would have to agree with Rich T and Curran. Look at some akasaka mantis shapes. While original in thought, making it a mantis doesn't fit what a mantis would look like, unless perhaps you stepped on it (I should say if you dared to step on one). Thanks for your help..

[Pete Klein]

Just a thought -- the sukashi on the bottom (upside down heart shape) is a serving tray used in tea ceremony. It is possible this is a representation of tea leaves.

[Pete Klein]

However...

[Pete Klein]

but then again... this is attributed to Tadamasa I and described as 'grasses'. From the Alan Harvie collection/Sotheby sale.

[Brian]

Crikey Pete...I hope the naming of that mantis pic isn't part of some wierd cataloging system you have going? :lol:

 

I can see both possibilities, but to me it makes more sense for it to represent the geese/grasses theme than a link between the geese and an upside down mantis. I think the goose is a given...and since the plains theme is a known one..I will go with that one.

 

Many of these themes will be forever just educated guesses. What was going through the craftsman's mind while making it is sadly often just a theory. It's a pity most of them didn't keep a record of their craftwork for future generations.

 

Brian

[Pete Klein]

Nope -- I just googled manitdae and found a good picture. My college minor was Entomology. Sort of looks like she's hitch-hiking, what?

[Nobody]

I found a similar motif yesterday on a magazine.

 

Tadasige saku (忠重作).

[John A Stuart]

Hi All, Here is one that is very close that is in the new KTK 2nd covention catalogue. John

[Rich T]

of Jim Gilbert's is excellent. I saw this at the show and this was one of my favorite sukashi tsuba at the show.

 

Rich

[John A Stuart]

Yes Rich, I think it shows a little more refinement in the craftsmanship. The dewdrop is a silhouette not just a circle of metal; the cut-work just a bit more true. John

[Ford Hallam]

Greetings all,

 

I've been lurking for a little while now and am very pleased to have found a specialist forum dealing with fittings.

This present discussion has been particularly interesting. So much so I'd like to add some more images to the pot.

 

Here's an Akasaka Tadamasa ( first master ) tsuba showing a classic Akasaka rendition of a mantis.

[Ford Hallam]

and here are two more tsuba with that evidently very common reeds theme.

Interestingly, the one without any geese is Owari ( according to Sasano ) The Akasaka one is by the 7th master, Tadaoki. I've always felt there was a sleight Ko-Owari influence in some of the Akasaka works.

 

I think that the various examples illustrated in this thread well demonstrate the design evolution that sometimes takes place. For instance , notice how the Akasaka artist has "improved" the Owari design by blending the elements into the rim at the bottom of the guard. He has also begun a process of very subtly refining the lines of the design to create more rhythm. This is a regular feature of Akasaka tsuba. Akasaka work also often exhibits those semi-circular cut-outs, this often adds a sense of repeat patterning ( a very valuable and attractive addition ) and further abstacts the design. This particular design feature, in my opinion, also owes something to Ko-Owari work.

 

Well, thats my little contribution.

Regards, Ford

[Rich T]

Greetings, and thanks for the thread. it has turned out to be interesting as you say though has drifted a little from the original post but that's ok. I agree totally with you on the Owari/Akasaka crossover and how a lot of the work appears to be transitional.

 

There is a very interesting article in the JSSUS's Art and the Sword Volume 3 called "Thought's regarding Owari Tsuba as predecessors of Akasaka Tsuba" by Matsumoto SEIJI ( translated by Dr Gordon Robson )

 

The geese and the grasses are of course a very strong design element of Akasaka work, they were used by all of the mainline masters and are constant in that way, and they took on many guises.

 

This is my offering on that crossover. This is a guard I have always thought of as Momoyama or earlier Owari. However, I recently took it to Japan with several other pieces and it was suggested by several experts to be Ko Akasaka. I had left enough behind for shinsa so I saved it for the new year shinsa goodies. It is an interesting guard, shows both tsuchime-ji and mikgaki-ji, is kakumimi Koniku, the hitsu ana (war fans) are for me, very Owari. The tsuba is very well made.

 

Cheers

 

Rich

 

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[Mantis dude]

Don't have any examples to share, but I have seen ko-shaomi designed and done in a similair manner to owari/ko-akasaka. The depictions were definately shared amongst each other no doubt showing the look of the times. The same "in fashion" concepts apply today that applied to the samurai back then. Each school may have used their own steel and traits, but there definately was a lot of bleed over between them. Interesting topic.

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Richard,

 

thanks for the reference to that article, I'll get hold of a copy of the book you cited. The tsuba you posted strikes me as fairly classic ( and very nice ) ko-Owari but who knows what the actual development really was.

 

What I was trying to show with the examples I posted was how the Akasaka in particular, seem to have quite a distinct abstract design approach and how this can often make the subject of any given tsuba seem a little obscure.

 

On the tsuba that started this thread, the left hand side with the goose etc is still clear and can be seen to be very much within the established canon, so to speak. The other side is far more abstracted but when we look at the Akasaka mantis we can see that there isn't enough to make a connection. When we consider the various reed designs here though, it becomes a little more clear as where that design developed from.

 

I hope that helps to clarify my ramblings.

 

and very best seasonal wishes to all, may your stockings be filled with bits of rusty iron and/or sharp, shiny pointy things. :D