Iaido dude

The passage he brushed is a very well known writing (my wife knew it from her study of Chinese classical literature and religious studies) and there is another example of this same daruma painting and calligraphy in which the kanji in question is rendered in an identical manner (below). The only difference is the variation in the way he signs. Yamaoka’s cursive script is very idiosyncratic (and recognizable), but also very consistent. His brushwork of “mu” and even his signature evolved profoundly over the course of adult life, dramatically informed by his enlightenment experience. I have asked the Rinzai master of Shodo at Chosei Zen Monastery for help translating the other work. I also noticed the commonality of those three characters to be striking (“…instead of water…”). When you study his many known works just focusing on recognizing the characters by form alone without comprehension of meaning, recognizable patterns emerge. The Chosei Zen approach is to experience the calligraphy for its expressive power rather than its literal meaning.

Daruma Yamaoka Tesshu (山岡 鉄舟) was born in Edo June 10, 1836 and died July 19, 1888. The vast majority of his works were calligraphy from the Jubokudo lineage of Shodo established by Wang Hsi-chi (Wang Xizhi), a Chinese calligrapher of the 4th century. Yamaoka created a calligraphy manual based on the 154 Chinese characters of a poem – “The Eight Immortals of the Wine Cup” – by the Tang Dynasty poet Tu Fu (712 – 770 A.D.) that is still practiced by the Chosei Zen Rhode Island Zen Dojo in the US. This powerful depiction of Daruma, the patriarch of Japanese Zen Buddhism, is a rare subject matter for Yamaoka. The calligraphy is taken directly from a famous poem Xinxin Ming (心性铭) attributed to the great Chan master Jianzhi Sengcan (鉴智僧璨). The translation is "Directly pointing to the human heart/mind, seeing one’s true nature leads to Buddhahood [直指人心見性成佛]. Brushed by Yamaoka Tetsutaro, Senior Fourth Court Rank." The Chinese pronunciation is "Zhí zhǐ rén xīn jiàn xìng chéng fó." The origin of this line is the Platform Sutra of the 6th Patriarch of Chinese Chan (Zen) Buddhism who was named Dajian Huineng or Hui-neng (638-713). The scroll painting and calligraphy (kakejiku) comes in a fitted paulownia box on which has been brushed "Yamaoka Tesshu Buddhist Layman, Bodhidharuma" on the outer lid and "May 1990, Follower of Xuanzang (early and influential Chinese Buddhist Monk of the Tang Dynasty)" on the inner lid. This Zen painting with calligraphy dates to 1885 (3 years before Yamaoka's untimely death and well after his enlightenment experience at age 45, based on his seals and during a time when he was the personal bodyguard and advisor to the Meiji emperor. He played the central role in the bloodless surrender of Edo castle--one of the most important events in the Meiji Restoration of 1868. Fearing the loss of traditional Yamaoka was born Ono Tetsutaro. A samurai and master swordsman who founded the Ittō Shōden Mutō-ryū (一刀正伝無刀流) school of swordsmanship ("Sword of No-Sword). He was also a master calligrapher who is said to have completed 1 million works, and a recognized lay Rinzai Zen master who died in the seated meditation position at the age of 52 from gastric cancer. Aside from being a master of Ken-Zen-Sho (Sword-Zen-Calligraphy), he was renown for his love of drinking sake and sleeping. At 62.5 cm x 137 cm (excluding mount), this work is among the largest of his works.

Steve Waszak gave me some advice early on that was mostly about determining if a tsuba attribution is correct, but it extends to fakes and reproductions: “Assume the worst case scenario and only acquire if you have painstakingly convinced yourself that the tsuba is genuinely what you think it is.” I fell prey to a reproduction recently and am implementing a systematic approach to avoid “magical thinking.”

Cast tsuba? https://www.jauce.com/auction/1188262208

Early in my collecting I brought a fake to the attention of Galerie Zacke in order to have my bid retracted. They were a bit indignant, but allowed me to withdraw my bid. They did not pull the item.

My other prized Yamaoka Tesshu painting is shown below and has a place of honor on the high wall where I hang my small collection of museum quality and published Zen calligraphy and painting. I see it every day walking down the hallway. Poem translation: "Point directly at the human heart, see into nature, and become a Buddha. Brushed by Yamaoka Tetsutaro, Senior Fourth Court Rank." The depiction of Daruma, the patriarch of Japanese Zen Buddhism, is also a rare subject matter for Yamaoka. At 62.5 cm x 137 cm (excluding mount), it is also among the largest of his works.

I have exhausted all of my books and on-line resources trying to obtain a translation of the following kakejiku of a work by Yamaoka Tesshu that has been in my collection for some time, but just recently taken out of storage for permanent display. The original documentation from the Zen gallery owner (Belinda Sweet, retired) was lost during a move from Boston to Florida, although it may turn up eventually. Although Yamaoka brushed as many as 1 million works, the vast majority are calligraphy alone. There are a few common subjects for accompanying paintings (Daruma, various other Buddhist themes, ships, Mt. Fuji), this one is a combination of a vine-like plant and what I believe is a waterfall because of a similar rare published work also shown below along with translation that has the phrase "...gentle waterfall of sake.". The last few characters on the left column and that read "sezu" may be identical to mine, but is not followed by "Sake" as the first character of the next column. It reads like "Abundance" in kanji. Like a few of his works, the order of the characters and columns in this published work is read from left to right even though he signs in the left lower corner. Yamaoka Tesshu (山岡 鉄舟) was born in Edo June 10, 1836 and died July 19, 1888. This Zen painting was brushed in the last year of his life (well after his enlightenment experience at age 45) based on his seals and during a time when he was the personal bodyguard and advisor to the Meiji emperor. Yamaoka was born Ono Tetsutaro. A samurai and master swordsman who founded the Ittō Shōden Mutō-ryū (一刀正伝無刀流) school of swordsmanship, he was also a master calligrapher who is said to have completed 1 million works, and a recognized Zen master who died in the seated meditation position at the age of 52 from gastric cancer. Aside from being a master of Ken-Zen-Sho (Sword-Zen-Calligraphy), he was renown for his love of drinking sake and sleeping.

Thanks, Steve. It’s good to know that the association of Nobuie with Christian iconography and practice during his time is likely not just speculative and is supported by published scholarship. Perhaps the best conclusions we can possibly reach should always frame the question against the historical, sociocultural, political, religious, and known aesthetic landscape that existed at the time. The question of whether Nobuie was himself a Christian may not be easily determined (I was under the impression that there are no reliable supporting historical records to this effect), but I’m convinced that he made Christian tsuba whose meaning was clear to those who openly displayed them.

There appears be an amida-yasuri motif of fine lines radiating from the center. There are eight sets of an outer horizontal bar over an inner circle. The radiating lines actually go nearly to the rim, but are broken up by the bars (these were carved out after lines were made). This may be another stylized depiction of the Buddhist 8-fold path.

This is the link to the Ryuken site of modern reproduction tsuba that are treated with a special patination technique. http://tsubaryuken.com/ I noticed that the upper sekigane on all of the tsuba look like a sword had never been mounted because there was no attempt to replicate the upward indent to accommodate the ha. We see this often extending into the seppa-dai on previously mounted tsuba when the sekagane fall out over time. I also noticed that the vast majority are only 4 mm thick, although some are 5 mm thick (none are thicker). The carving/filing of sukashi walls is less even than we see on genuine old iron sukashi tsuba. The precise work on the hitsu-ana on the Jauce tsuba is more like we would expect from many genuine tsuba, so Jean may be right that it is genuine. I think these points should be kept in mind when considering a tsuba that we can't examine ourselves in hand or that don't have papers. If I were seriously interested in this tsuba, I would have request more images from the seller.

There are only 3 images provided and it is not papered. Hard to say. Ryuken makes reproductions that are even more intricate than this one without charging more than for simpler designs. What I gather from the comments on this post is that nearly all designs and construction types can be and will be reproduced/faked.

This current Jauce auction is a bit suspicious. Has the kind of surface of the Ryuken copies including absence of indent in the upper sekigane. https://www.jauce.com/auction/k1187148258

Nobuie is speculated to have included Christian iconography in his works. We also know that stylized renderings are common and may not be intuitive in their intended meaning. Even if Nobuie were not a Christian, he mat have made it as a hidden Christian tsuba on commission for a high-ranking buke who practiced Christianity. That would explain the stylization of the motifs. And I would agree that rosary beads are common to both Christian and Buddhist practice. If that Nobuie we were discussing does have a somewhat hidden Christian symbol on the right side, it is a possibility that the Christian rosary is depicted on the left side. This rendering of the rosary is identical to the one I posted from the Iida-Koendo site, which has quite a few Nobuie and Kanshiro Nishigaki works. I would think this seller is reputable. There are well-known Momoyama works y Nobuie that feature distinctly Buddhist iconography such as the 8-fold path. We can’t very well ask him what his spiritual practices were, but he lived in a time when Christianity was being practiced and often simultaneously along with Buddhism since the eastern orientation is toward a “both/and” sensibility.

That’s in the description on the link.

The motif on the left is stylized rosary beads. https://iidakoendo.com/11883/