Tamagucci

I like the comet idea! I wonder if it could also be a stylized magatama. Especially since it has many associations with dragons, water, and "life essence".

Haha fret not i'm much younger than your eldest! I wonder if the strangely shapped hitsu-ana is meant to be evocative of swirling wind.

Do you have any more information on this tsuba? I find it quite striking. I can barely make out the mei but the website says wakashiba, and I assume wakashiba = jakushi?

I've finally got my hands on the tsuba, and hopefully taken better photos. Do these confirm your anaylsis? (i've had to upload them to flickr because the resolution was too high for the forum) https://www.flickr.com/photos/202791828@N05/albums/72177720329330222 The patina definately looks very different in person, the vendor photos accentuate the redness. From what i can tell I agree with the take that it is remnant silver because on closer inspection the silver only appears in the groves of the etching this alongside more intact areas of silver such as on the carving of the horse. Melb! A few victorian colectors have already contacted me, thank you :^)

Agreed! I also like studying the catalogues and archives of high end auction house as well (I have attached a catalogue with a good selection of menuki, althought the resolution is not great). Another good museum website is: https://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?page=1&page_size=15&q=menuki&utm_source=chatgpt.com, they have ~230 menuki on file.

This is what I thought as well when I searched up the term. Perhaps it's a misattribution by the author and MFA Boston, but I guess it could also be a stylized version of the symbol given the size of the hitsu-ana (but I haven't found another refrence to this), or perhaps they are literally talking about the "sandbar" like shape.

I saw this tsuba and was reminded of this thread, I think the shape is refered to as "suhama" and was common in the Heian period? Tho I think your piece lacks the tapering of the edges of the hoan tsuba pictured.

I'm having trouble distinguishing between hizen as a province where multiple schools were active in, and Hizen as a school itself that I have seen a number of posters reference. It is my understanding that Jakushi was also school active in Hizen. I'm inclined to think it is Jakushi as well given the heavy Chinese "Nanban" type influences and motifs (mythical beasts & swirling clouds), as well as the use of heavy nunome zogan, and flat etched type carvings. But saying that I also found this tsuba on Bonhams label as Hizen school which I think also seems very similar to what I have given the motifs of auspicious items on the back of the tsuba + the mythical beasts on the front with the sacred jewel on top. If someone can confirm/correct my understanding, that would be very helpful!

Thank you, that was very informative! P.s. you must show us your first pair of menuki when you get it!

Hi Jack, Yes I did see those volumes, but it doesn't really give school/style or period information. I suppose generally that's not as common as tsuba, or it is but it is all in Japanese?

Hello again, hopefully it's alright to be posting in such quick sucession. Im quite fascinated by menuki, and perhaps even moreso than tsuba's, but i'm sort of at a lost in terms of where to start studying. It is partly the reason why I approached collecting tsuba's first given there is so much more resources available. So my uqestion is: is there any books which would be good starting points? Here's a follow up uqestion. I'm very enamoured by this piece: https://www.ebay.com/itm/277346222077?_skw=menuki&itmmeta=01K5V9V6RRT34ZNCCCJH7XPSZ9&hash=item40931f7ffd:g:F1EAAeSwdfVogk1g , and may very well be a piece I save up for to get a few months down the line if it is still available. However, before that I'd like to know atleast some basic identification of Menuki. I was under the impression (from a forum post here) that menuki often have mei, this one doesn't. So how then does one go about autheticating and identifying? Cheers, Kai.

Yes i'll be sure to remember that, unfortunately I have yet to receive my purchase so when I do eventually get it i'll be sure to post an update with new pictures! As a side note I didn't think there were so many australians on here, well 2 is not a lot, but it is nice to know there are others. haha

Hi Jean, Thank you for responding! I did notice that the sheen was a little silvery compared to the TSUBA that I have been looking at. I spend 133 USD for it so I suppose not the worse mistake but a little sting nonetheless. I'm a huge Vajrayana budhist buff so the wish granting gen on the top and other embellishments was a big draw for me. Correct me if I'm wrong and hopefully u can see it but am I correct in saying it has nunome patterning? I've attached pictures that are hopefully better, these are just from the listing. Also p.s. I'll respond to your message soon.

Hi everyone, I'm an absolute beginner in collecting tsubas. I recently won a piece off an auction on eBay and I went a little over the budget of my first piece. I'm pretty certain (as certain as a novice can be) that it's genuine edo forged iron but I guess my concern is whether I paid more than I should have. Asking for my learning, I don't necessarily regret the purchase either way, I enjoy budhist iconography which is mainly why I chose the piece. My initial impression is mid 18th century to early 19th century shaomi school? I admit I could be very wrong. Cheers!