Jake6500

Aside from the cast marks, the Hitsu Ana being that clean (?) in and of itself usually is indicative of a reproduction. I'm not sure if that's the best way to put it but hopefully everyone knows what I mean. If the entire piece looks too clean to be around 200 years old, particularly around the Hitsu Ana and Sekigane, also sometimes the Mei, then it probably isn't.

This might be peripheral but I would imagine Tosa artisans would have been looked down upon simply for historical reasons dating back to the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 when the Chosokabe (ruled Tosa Han) sided against the Tokugawa and lost. Animosity between the samurai of Tosa and the Bakufu continued until the Meiji Restoration and collapse of the Edo Period in 1868 due to the treatment of the tozama (the great daimyo who had opposed the Tokugawa and their respective domains, Tosa, Choshu and Satsuma). These domains also happened to be the ones that fought to restore imperial power (not a coincidence) and many of the earliest, most prominent Japanese politicians of the Meiji Period were from these domains such as Japan's first prime minister Ito Hirobumi who was from Choshu and Itagaki Taisuke, who served with Hirobumi as Home Minister in Hirobumi's Second Administration was from Tosa. It would therefore not surprise me that works from artisans in Shikoku would have been looked down upon in general, but particularly so if the work came from Tosa. Simply put, looking down upon Tosa with distrust was sort of the unofficial position of the Bakufu itself throughout the Edo Period. The Chosokabe in Tosa were also the most powerful samurai clan in Shikoku so to see this mistrust and animosity extended to Shikoku as a whole would hardly be surprising.

I'm inclined to agree Colin, although I do find the thought of it interesting in and of itself.

Regardless of whether these Tsuba constitute "cubism" or not, I find the idea rather interesting. Usually when discussing the relationship between Western and Japanese (Edo Period) art the relationship is in the reverse as Van Gogh is known to have been inspired by ukiyo-e art which inspired the wider Japonaiserie movement in Western art circles around the late 1880's and 1890's. You can see this in the vibrant colours of Van Gogh's Sunflower series. I would say the idea of Picasso's cubism potentially influencing later Meiji Period Tsuba is extremely interesting, regardless of the validity.

A quick look into parrots and parrot species in Japan indicates that there are no parrot species native to Japan, as has been said already. Parrots were only introduced as invasive species some time in the 1960's. The post about parrot ukiyo-e is quite interesting and really shows the cultural impact of the opening of Japan's borders in 1853 and the influx of Western culture at the time.

Thank you very much for your hard work. This has helped a lot and expanded my understanding!

Hi there veteran board members and translators, I recently picked up a new Tsuba and am looking to have the hakogaki translated to see if I can get more information about the Tsuba itself, the school of craftsmanship or the period of its manufacture. I have already attempted to see what I could find out through image to text translation and that was somewhat informative, but there were sections that could not be translated this way. From what I could gather, it depicts Benkei at Gojo Bridge (knew this from the original listing) from the Noh play Ataka which was popular during the Edo Period along with numerous Kabuki spin-offs. The hakogaki also appears to confirm the round iron base and brass fittings/decoration which matches the Tsuba itself. Catalogued in 1980? If anyone with better Japanese language skills is able to translate the rest it would be much appreciated! Here are some images of the Hakogaki and the Tsuba itself:

You're 100% correct. I wrote my post thinking about my two Kinai Tsuba as if they are exactly the same and use the same exact techniques but in reality they are sightly different! This one is overlay whilst the other one I own uses inlay technique, and this one is brass whilst the other one uses a smaller, more sparing amount of actual gold and has a different design (though it still features the Aoi/Hollyhock). I was mostly thinking uncritically about the colour when I wrote the previous post, brass having a "goldish" colour. Both Tsuba are also inscribed the same way (Echizen-Ju Kinai / Echizen-Ju Kinai Saku) as mentioned in the description you have posted.

Translating the hakogaki on the box is a great idea, though I lack the Japanese skills to properly do so myself. I did glean some limited information with image to text translation, namely that the box matches the Tsuba (specifies circular iron base and brass) and that it was catalogued Autumn 1980 by a "Yukito Abe". Some new information to work with. It also gave me a bit more information about the theme. The scene depicted is Benkei on Gojo bridge, specifically from the Noh play Ataka written in 1465 which was popular during the Edo Period along with its many Kabuki adaptations spanning the entire 18th and early 19th centuries (the latest being Kajincho, 1840).

I'm still new to collecting Tsuba but I have yet to see one like that with a different base metal, and one of the kanji is absent as has been pointed out already. A lot of Kinai works feature the Hollyhock leaf which is because the Kinai school was one of the official schools of craftsman for the Tokugawa Shogunate. A lot of them also tend to be open works. Given that the Tsuba is neither an open work, nor does it feature the Hollyhock and it is also missing a kanji in the inscription I would be dubious about its origins. Here are a couple photos of one of my Echizen-ju Kinai. I have two like this that are similar designs featuring the Hollyhock leaf, both using an iron base with modest gold adornment like so:

Hi all, I recently started an Edo Period Tsuba collection and am still building my knowledge base about different schools of craftsmanship or appraisal. I have two Tsuba that are authentic Echizen-Ju Kinai Tsuba with iron bases and gold inlay. Whilst these are not certified through the NBTHK I am confident in their authenticity based off my own research and comparisons to other authentic Tsuba by the same school in the same Edo Period Han. In addition to these, I have a Hozon certified Tsuba depicting the deity Daikokuten. Once again, this Tsuba has an iron base and gold inlay. My last Tsuba which I recently acquired is different from the others and therein lies the reason for this post. Whilst the seller whom I purchased the Tsuba from appears to be reliable (a lot of their items are certified) my most recent addition is an uncertified piece with little information to work with. The Tsuba has an iron base again, however this time the decorative fittings appear to be from brass and depict Benkei at Gojo Bridge. As there is no inscription or information about the artist or school of craftmanship and as I have no experience until now dealing with Tsuba decorated/fitted with brass, I was hoping to seek some expert advice here. Any potential information about the artist, the school of craftsmanship or about how to authenticate/assess Tsuba with brass decoration like this would be appreciated!