Ford Hallam

I'm afraid I have to disagree with most of this description. We don't actually have any idea, pending some actual scientific analysis, what, if anything, the carbon content of any part of the so called tekkotsu structure might be. Secondly, it only takes two, or three at most, compressions and folds of raw low carbon/to no carbon bloomery iron to create an essentially solid plate. There is no movement within that billet of alleged harder lumps migrating to the outer surfaces during this minimal forging process. I would add that while higher carbon might indicate a harder material it also means that it will more rapidly oxidise and rust. With regard to how the tekkotsu effect might be created: My own, slightly tested theory, is that the plates made for tsuba were basically iron with virtually no carbon present. The very few analyses of ferrous tsuba that have been done show this to be so in most instances, and certainly where there is carbon detected it far too low to allow for the material to be hardened by heat treatment. Further, most, if not practically all, ferrous tsuba are not hardened, as evidenced the apparent ease with which modifications were made and later decoration was added. Why bother using good steel if you don't need to heat treat it? To harden the outer skin of a finished iron tsuba it can be packed in organic material, like bone or leather, and brought up to a high heat in a charcoal fire so that the iron can absorb carbon through diffusion. Basic case hardening. There are ways to ensure that the carbon is absorbed irregularly, like a clay coating for instance. There is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that case hardening was known and practiced by the earliest ironworking cultures. And the process was used routinely by metal carvers in Japan when making their chisels. Kano Natsuo described the process in one of his workshop notebooks. Subsequent oxidising and or rusting, or maybe even tumbling in a barrel of sand and small stones, would consume or abrade the lower carbon areas.

I'm afraid I must agree with George (Tanto54) in that I too suspect that wave tsuba as being a cast copy. I mentioned similar concerns on Facebook and here I can see the edge is rather suspiciously smooth (to hide the evidence of a moulded wax copy, the inevitable seam from the rubber mould) but also at 10 O Clock on the front edge I can clearly see traces of that seam that still remain. There's a fair bit of deatil loos on the carved surface too, as well as a few tiny knobs and bubbles. All of which shout 'casting' to me. Sorry.

Apologies for my recent absence, needs must when the Devil drives... From what I can see this is a perfectly genuine piece of Meiji period export ware. The workmanship is fairly good and the materials are decent quality. As has been noted, the base plate appears to have been cast, but only the basic form. It has been well worked and properly finished. It may be brass or possibly sentoku, which in this period was very popular as 'the new thing' . Sentoku had to be cast as it can't be forged. If it is sentoku the original patina would have been more golden ochre with a degree of crystalline speckling visible in the polished areas. The kata-kiri work on the back is, to my eyes, the finest part of the piece. I doubt very much that anyone in Japan today could match that degree of fluency and elegance in this technique. The bird on the front, is perhaps a bit big and maybe a little awkward but the actual detailing is neat and confidant. The blossom inlays are very neatly done too and the modelling and texturing of the branches is perfectly competent. All of this, with regard to the workmanship, suggests a maker who was well trained and experienced in the classical tradition and while probably not themselves an actual tsuba-shi they would have trained under those who were the last of the line. It's clearly not a tsuba in the pure definition of the term but was made for the tourist market and customers who wouldn't have known any better. Similarly the 'mei' is in all likelihood simply a name added to give the buyer the the added reassurance they were buying 'real art'. So that's my take on it. regards to all, Ford

Thank you, Gentlemen It always nice to hear that what one puts out is of use and appreciated.

Hi Chris I'm glad you appreciated the film. As the title suggests this was intended as an aesthetic appreciation first and foremost. I have been mindful, however, as I've been developing these sorts of films, of the need to provide context and a little background history so that the objects can be better understood within their own time and social framework. Also, as I hope has been noted, I'm trying to provide the needed information for newcomers to the subject to more readily make sense of all of the minutea of detail we often take for granted. In fact I did discuss the koban shape of the seppa dai as being one of those things we would note when making an attribution. I did this not to prove the attribution though, merely to illustrate the sorts of detail we do look to when trying to judge who made a work. What I'm saying is that my intention with my film is to help educate students of the subject in how to see and think about these objects. I was less concerned about showing how to identify a Hayashi tsuba than learning how to appreciate good design and workmanship. Attribution will inevitably always be subjective to some degree and your own opinion is a perfectly reasonable response to any alternate opinion. Regards Ford

Thank you Gents, I'm glad you enjoyed it and that you got something from it. I'm working on an Ichijo kozuka at the moment. An interesting look at shibuichi and the effects of time.

For what it's worth I'm of the opinion that Onin guards are actually merely old tosho guards given a new lease of life with a fancy import alloy that was suddenly all the rage at the start of the 17th century. And I have a sneaky suspicion those curious minimalist sukashi on tosho guards might also be much later additions... He, he, or subtractions. I think this because I really can't see where that sort of simplified and abstracted type of design work came from if we are to accept them as original to the earliest tosho tsuba.

This is a short film I recently produced in which I examine the aesthetic and design qualities of a sukashi tsuba of the Hayashi school. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH95icXJS54 And if you'd like to see more like this as well as regular instructional films on classical technique, so that you can become a properly educated tosogu fancier , you might consider joining my Patreon subscription channel. Enjoy Ford

Sorry Yves, that's a modern cast copy, in brass by the looks of it. Repro/fake...hope it wasn't expensive.

I imagine some may be interested to see how this ended up. Enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AUHpzz_zjA

It might be Korean actually. I've seen similar ones (in a exhibition catalogue for a museum in Seoul) with the same type of silver nunome-zogan work, mid 19th century.

Doro-shippo, 'mud enamel'. This is a term used to describe earlier Japanese enamels that featured less bright and clear, ie; muddy colours, generally those enamels produced before the late 19th century when German chemists introduced finer enamel production technologies.

Well if quality isn't a concern why not just buy something for $100

Overpriced in my opinion. I wouldn't buy them for half the price. Save the money, better to spend $700 on something really decent than two mediocre and irrelevant pieces.

Hello Jean this volume deals with the metals and alloys, where they came from, how they evolved and how they fit into Japanese craft and social history. How to make them and colour them. If I survive this first volume I will continue with the other I had planned, but I'll be doing those on my own time. The series would be called. "The Technology of Japanese Art Metalwork" This volume is actually volume 7. "Metals, Alloys and Patination - A History and Practical Manual" The other volumes would be as follows, these would be much much easier for me as I don't need to research anything really, this is what I teach and do everyday. Volume 1 - The Fundamentals of correct and skilful hand tool use. Volume 2 - Basic tool making and chisel use. Volume 3 - Inlay work Volume 4 - Nunome Zogan – Japanese Style Damascening. Volume 5 - Uchidashi – Japanese style chasing and Repoussé. Volume 6 - Carving, texturing and specialised tool making and use. Volume 7 - Metals and Alloys - Their finishing, preparation and colouring. (obviously this one mutated) And Patrick, Luca, once we're at the printing stage we will launch a little website about the book where it can be pre-ordered to secure a copy.

Hello all, and thanks for the continued support and your patience. The response thus far has been overwhelmingly in favour of waiting for the real book and not putting a pdf out there. I really appreciate everyones concern about the protection of the material in that respect, and of course that was my biggest fear also. We'll probably aim to publish 1000 copies so that there will be about 500 extras after my backers have had their copies.

While silver is somewhat more malleable than shakudo, and shakudo is very similar to copper, I don't think the workability would have been a factor in choosing either. As to patina on silver. What we see in a glossy black layer on silver is essentially silver sulphide. This is not a stable layer and in time will actually flake off. I'm sure most here will have seen that effect. One of the reasons it flakes off is that it is more brittle and inflexible compared to the underlying silver metal. Changes in temperature lead to different rates of expansion etc. and the layer becomes detached. In addition, silver sulphide will, where it can, continue to develop and thereby continue to consume the underlying silver metal. This damage can be seen when the silver sulphide does flake off and the underlying silver is exposed as being rough. And then the process begins anew. So with this in mind I doubt that the patina we now see was intended when the koshirae was made. There is another, non sulphur based, process that might have been used to give the silver a more mellow pewter type tone but that tends not to go black like this.

Hi Patrick I would have to agree with you in saying that this does look to be a cast copy. Really good detective work too There are some who will argue ( ill-advisedly ) that iron tsuba were cast in pre-modern Japan. I would suggest, though, that that notion is not supported by any evidence at all. This present piece seems actually to be a pretty fine cast replica which in itself indicates a relatively recent date.

To my mind the finest and most comprehensive essay on Wabi is the be found is the collection of writings. In fact I'd highly recommend the entire collect of articles. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Japanese-Aesthetics-Culture-Studies-Development/dp/0791424006 The Wabi Aesthetic though the Ages, by Haga Koshiro

Chris, The first one, Mudo-myo, was one I restored a while ago. It was discussed here before and after.

Chris S (Vajo) excellent choice of tsuba, superb patination, wouldn't you say?

I would only add that the base metal is almost certainly a brass and not sentoku at all. I know the literature to date has been somewhat arbitrary in labelling these types of pieces, perhaps sentoku sounds more valuable/exotic than brass, but the fact is sentoku (Xuande bronze from China) only makes an appearance in Japan in the very late 19th century, quite probably not even in the late Edo period but early Meiji. My hypothesis, at present, is that the disruptions and destruction of Chinese society and especially the Imperial structures, wrought by the British, led to some skilled artisans from those workshops fleeing to Japan, where their expertise seems to have been readily absorbed into the existing craft knowledge. Needless to say this detail of social history hasn't received any attention from scholars as yet. The Hizen province artists, father and son, Mitsuhiro, famous for their 1000's monkey, horses etc 'sentoku' inscribed tsuba were merely smart marketers. Analysis of their prices show them to quite different from both the original Xuande bronze and the late Japanese adoption, sentoku. Japanese scholars and collectors knew of the fabled Xuande bronze and avidly sought the typical censors, so supplying tsuba is the same desirable alloy was a shrewd move...even if it was dishonest. Sentoku is merely the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese Xuande.

zitan wood, it's a member of the rosewood family.

The work, to my eyes, appears to be reasonably decent Choshu style. Far too generic and formulaic for an artist of the first water like Natsuo or his studio. As for the kao, it appears to be a bit stiff and 'fat' compared to the elegant 'springiness' of the real thing.

Merely an opinion, but you're welcome