Bob M.

Item No. 174  Iron Tsubas  7.63 cm x 7.32 cm x 0.50 cm  and  7.20 cm x 6.93 cm x 0.50 cm

Subject of dragons in clouds - Choshu school signed as Tomokiyo & Nobuhisa

An associated ' daisho ' pair .  Is it possible to check these signatures / attributions against Wakayama or Haynes ? The only reference I can find in geneologies places the artist at the turn of the 17th/18th centuries.

In very good condition for their apparent age.

Item No. 175   Iron Tsubas   8.09 cm x 8.04 cm x 0.30 cm  and   7.74 cm x 7.64 cm x 0.34 cm

Another associated pair described as ' Ko Tosho cherry blossom & mon '.

Received opinion is that the blossom is in fact a Katabami flower , a mon of the Chosokabe clan . The angular cut out is Genji Monogatari , an Incense Game symbol. Any ideas about the mon or perhaps stylised flower on the right ?

Deep lustrous patinas on both these pieces.

Thanks  George ,

Almost a dead ringer for the first of your illustrations.

Regards

Item No. 172   Iron Tsuba 7.48 cm x 7.02 cm x 0.67 cm

Subject of Four Seasons - Akasaka possibly mid to late 18th cent.

Nice subject  , good condition with deep even patina

NBTHK papered

Item No. 173   Brass Tsuba with gold highlights  7.30 cm x 6.83 cm x 0.50 cm

Subject of dragon in clouds , signed by Hirado Kunishige? with kao.

Heavy piece with good carving and detailing. The segment of scaled dragon tail shown on the reverse looks almost silver against the brass background. Also there is what at first looks like a tigers tail included in the image , but this must be from the dragon ?  is it another allusion to the relationship between dragons and tigers ?

Any help pinpointing the likely age of this would be gratefully received - is the artist from Hizen ?

Second weekend's offerings -

Item no. 170   Iron Tsuba with silver and brass inlays   8.47 cm x 8.00 cm x 0.55 cm  up to 1.09 cm on Rim

Big Tsuba with Nobuie style Kanji , Hitsu Ana as Daikon? Heavy forging to Rim , Signed but indistinct , deep brown patina.

Item No. 171   Iron Tsuba 7.63 cm x 7.33 cm x 0.75 cm

Iron Tsuba very solidly built, very dark , almost black patina . Sado school ?

Thanks for the support !

First of the weekend offerings - 

Item No. 169   An associated pair of Iron Tsuba with Lead / Shakudo plugs  8.00 cm x 7.94 cm x 0.63 cm  ( Indented Octagon )   &   7.78 cm x 7.60 cm x 0.55 cm  (Straight sided Octagon ).

Two tsuba , presented as a pair , first with lead plugs and arabesque type engraving , the second with ornate Shakudo plugs and engraved pine needles with stamped or engraved ume blossom . Signed Nobuie .  18th/19th cent. ?

Possibly Myochin Nobuie ? Both show evidence of mounting . Even patination.

Anybody hazard a guess as to what we have here ?

Hello All ,

Just a few lines to say that from today onwards  , until the start of the new year , I will be restricting new postings of Tosogu to perhaps one piece at the weekends. This is mainly to do with pressure of work and other commitments at this time of year . I will be restarting ' at full speed ' in early 2022 .

Please keep watching / commenting and help keep this thread alive - Many Thanks !

Best Regards

Bob

Item No. 167    Iron Tsuba with copper , gold and shibuichi inlay    7.25 cm x 6.93 cm x 0.54 cm

Subject of Kanzan and Jittoku , unsigned , thought to be an early Soten piece , dating to late 18th cent.

An unusual treatment of a common subject with lots of painstaking detail . Another piece that looks far better in hand.

Item No. 168   Iron Tsuba with Brass inlays  9.08 cm x 8.98 cm x 0.34 cm ( over inlay )

Large , thin tsuba with many different brass motifs . This sort of piece is often attributed as Heianjo , but would appear to be Yoshiro dating from the 1500's .

In exceptional condition for its age , a tsuba that rewards some study to appreciate the different elements of inlay ( I count 14 subjects or types ).

Ex Clarence McKenzie Lewis Jr. collection

Item No. 165    Iron Tsuba with silver and gold highlights   8.45 cm x 7.85 cm x 0.37 cm on plain , 0.56 cm at thickest point.

Subject of old plum tree in spring with blossom just starting to break out. Mumei . 18th Cent. ?

Nicely forged mokko gata plate with good natural feel . The ancient tree is well carved and inlay presented to herald a new beginning to the year.

Item No. 166   Iron Sukashi Tsuba   7.61 cm x 7.57 cm x 0.44 cm

The inner walls of the cutouts are actually chamfers rather than straight sides.

This came with attribution - Ko Shoami Senmen Sukashi  - which would place it as pre Edo ; does this make sense ?

Item No. 163   Iron Tsuba with copper    6.22 cm x 5.85 cm x 0.43 cm

Sukashi Tsuba in iron , small wakizashi or tanto size unsigned.

Very nice smaller piece in iron with good carving and finishing. Very dark brown patina in fine condition.

There are four copper inserts to the top and botton of the seppa dai - can anyone suggest a reason why they would be placed where they are ? Whilst being used to seeing linings in the Hitsu ana , I don't know what function these would have performed.

Item No. 164   Iron Tsuba    76.9 cm x 74.8 cm x 0.70 cm

Heavy iron tsuba with beautiful semi gloss patina . Any ideas as to subject matter ?

Attributed as Sado Sanzaemon . NBTHK papered.

Item No. 161   Iron Tsuba with silver and gold detailing 7.82 cm x 7.58 cm x 0.65 cm

Subject of geese and moon  unsigned , feels mid 19th cent.

Clever design of a popular subject with thin gold lines representing mist or high , thin clouds . The shape of the wings echoed in cloud tops , the whole scene illuminated by a full moon.

Item No. 162   Iron Tsuba with gold detail   7.18 cm x 7.58 cm x 0.45 cm

Subject of Carp leaping above turbulent waters . Signed Eiju with gold seal . 

Acquired 5 years ago as part of a large auction lot.

Item No. 160 - Iron Tsuba  7.46 cm dia x 0.58 cm

Subject of lobster or crayfish ? signed Yamashiro Tadatsugu - could anyone please verify this and also age - looks maybe late edo .

When I look up the name on google , there are various references , some to sword makers , others to tsuba and one to a Christies auction in 2001 for a smaller tsuba by Yamashiro Tadatsugu from back in the 17th cent - cannot see an illustration , though . Could it be the same maker ?

Striking piece with good , almost black , wet look patina . Cannot find any reference to this artist - maybe Haynes has an entry ?

Perhaps caused by an over active imagination after too much coffee , the rear of the tsuba reminds me of the 'face hugger ' from Alien - maybe an early example of Manga in a Tsuba ?

Thanks  , everyone for your kind comments.

Re Item No. 159

George , my understanding of the galvanic corrosion effect is that in this case , the brass would tend to cause corrosion in the iron . This would be very limited and slow if the piece is kept dry , much accelerated in the case of damp conditions . There is actually some evidence  , in the form of rough spots , on the tsuba rim of minor iron corrosion . 

Years ago , when I was working for a company installing infrastructure pipelines in the middle east , we used to use large sacrificial anodes of Magnesium on the steel fittings ( tees , bends , reducers etc. ). These would help to give many years of protection to a pipeline especially where there was also the inherent risk of corrosion due to cavitation .

Item No. 159    Iron Tsuba with brass inlay  7.65 cm x 7.38 cm x 0.45 cm at centre , 0.22 cm at rim.

An intricate mesh pattern in brass , with a couple of small sukashi of chidori ? Unknown age , guess at mid to late 18th cent.

The patient workmaship shown in this piece testifies to the Japanese spirit and will of the skilled craftsman to produce the best that he can. As with many Japanese works , there is a   ' hidden ' treasure that in this case , shows in sunshine or bright light , when flashes of a multi coloured iridescence are seen. The plate has been shaped to show this by thinning down at both the rim and the Seppa Dai.

Purchased direct from a Japanese dealer in mid 2007.

Re Item No. 158

Looking at this post  again , I find that in my haste to post this tsuba to the thread , I missed some of the most important facts about it namely , that it is approx. 25 years old  , and is an early example of Ford Hallam's work .

Sorry about this - I was late , going elsewhere , and knew I would not have access to my computer for a few days...

Item No. 158 - Iron Tsuba   8.23 cm x 8.15 cm x 0.53 cm

Subject of horse

Acquired some 13 years ago - partly because it is my birth year sign , partly because I like it...

The thickness varies between 5.3 mm over rim , to 4.5 mm inside the rim  , rising back to 5.3 mm at the seppa dai

My first thoughts with this were that it is like an oversize Yagyu style tending towards Owari.  Any views ?

Apologies - First two pics much too blue...

Item No. 157    Copper Tsuba with Silver , Copper , Shakudo and Gold details  7.00 cm x 6.40 cm x 0.40 cm

Subject of Bushi entering a room with screens . Pine tree on reverse Hamano School ( Hamano - Masazui ? ) signed  Masaaki  with kao - Is this Furukawa Masaaki ? Mid 19th cent.

Delicately carved and realistically expressed - nice detailing on the screens , featuring Bamboo . Typical good hamano pine tree on reverse.

Bought off ebay from Japan nearly 16 years ago.

Item No. 156   Kozuka in Shibuichi and Shakudo with gold and silver inlay

Subject of Tanabata ( Star Festival ) by Ikkin the 2nd  , mid 19th cent.

Front of the kozuka in striped shibuichi showing bamboo pole with paper decorations attached.

Ikkin studied under Hashimoto Isshi and Goto Ichijo , two ' giants ' of their craft . The signature is particularly well done , it was worth buying the piece for that alone .

Bought direct from a Japanese dealer some nine years ago.

NBTHK papered

Re . Item no. 155

Hi Glen ,

Well it is a possibility , but I imagine that a design like this would have proven quite popular - leading the school to take the commercial decision and produce a few batches of almost identical menuki . 

With the level of skill on show , I think that reproducing the design exactly would not be a problem.

Item No. 155  Menuki   Shakudo with silver, gold and copper

Subject of rats on dried salmon , signed Haruaki

Very fine detailing , as you would expect from Haruaki School - it is even possible to see the Salmons' individual teeth !

An almost identical pair ( maybe the same ones ) were in the Hartman Collection and appear in the auction catalogue on page 122 , item 488 . I am not sure if these are the same menuki that were in his collection as I bought them from a dealer in Japan about nine years ago . That said , the Hartman collection was auctioned at the end of June 1976 and it is quite possible that they went back to Japan , only to come back to England ' on vacation '.

Hi Jean ,

Thanks for your post-

All of the tsubas you mention are part of a large ( over 150 piece ) collection that I acquired a few months ago following the death of the owner.

I have not had time to sort all of these out and in fact do not have the knowledge to do this properly . 

At some point in the past , it looks as if the collection , or a large part of it was dropped , possibly down stairs , causing a number of boxes to be smashed , others damaged and a lot of the tsubas mixed up and put back into boxes at random. Unfortunately there is no documentation to show how the collection was formed and so I am forced to guess or try to get opinions as to maker / school etc .

I am hoping, that, by posting these in my thread together with other pieces  I am a bit more certain about , my errors will be corrected by those NMB members more knowledgeable , especially in the field of sukashi and old iron , than myself.

Less than one third of the collection has any attribution at all , ( by the box being labelled ) ; the rest are in plain boxes .

Re. Item No. 153   -  has a label on the box stating ' Ko Katchushi Ex Jim Gilbert ' . The tsuba in the box must therefore be one of the mixed up items. There are other tsubas in different boxes which would more closely resemble traditional Ko Katchushi work.

Re. Item No. 154 - there is no evidence of tekkotsu anywhere .

Many Thanks for your time and interest !

If anyone is able to assist me with the above ' jigsaw puzzle ' , either on the NMB posts , or off Board , please get in contact , any help much appreciated.

Regards

Item No . 154   Iron Tsuba   7.16 cm x 7.13 cm x 0.47 cm

No signature or attribution - wondered if Owari/ Ono might be a reasonable call ?

Seems to have some age to it and has been mounted more than once.

Item No. 153   Iron tsuba   7.30 cm x 7.23cm x 3.8 cm

Rounded mokkogata form with rim measuring 5.3 mm thick attributed as Ko Katchushi 16th/ 17th cent. ?

Ex Jim Gilbert collection

Item No. 152  Iron Tsuba with gold   7.29 cm x 6.72 cm x 0.55 cm

Subject of dragon in cloud, signed Jakushi

A better quality tsuba from Jakushi wuth nicely carved and animated dragon . Two shades of gold used for clouds and flames , the design carries on around the rim. The carving of the dragon is good enough to make you think at first sight that it is a shakudo inlay , but it is all from the same plate.

Item No. 151   Iron Tsuba with shakudo , gold and silver   7.84 cm x 7.50 cm x 0.37 cm

Subject of fruits , leaves and tendrils . This tsuba has been forged into convex/concave shape ( forget the Japanese name for this style ) such that the overall height is 8.5 mm .  Mumei , with no real indication of age , but has quite an 'old feel ' to it - guess at 17th/18th cent.

A heavily structured piece of iron with prominent forging pattern.

Item No. 150   Iron tsuba  8.2 cm x 7.7 cm x 0.36 cm

Subject of dragonfly with water and reeds on rear , carved in katakiri bori , signed Myochin motte kitao

A wonderful piece of carving.

The corrosion spots are well in excess of 100 years old - this piece formed part of the Red Cross exhibition of 1915 , and the image from the record of that exhibition shows the spots.

Provenence -

Ex. Colonel J B Gaskell collection

Exhibited Red Cross exhibiton 1915

Published - Japanese Art and Handicraft by Henri L. Joly, pp 112 , no. 48