Tachi seppa. updated with cleaned tsuba pics.

[jason_mazzy]

These are a pair of Seppa I aquired along with a rusty tsuba I am slowly cleaning and restoring. They are a beautiful red color witha beautiful patina shine. I hope you enjoy.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

They look good!

[jason_mazzy]

[jason_mazzy]

 

 

it was nice to find gold under the rust. But it is into the patina in a few spots so i am not comfortable cleaning this any further. Kinda sad really as i am sure this was beautiful. Appears to be chrysanthemums.

[sanjuro]

Hi Jason.

 

Nice restoration job you are doing there.

Just a quick question for you........ Did you acquire these pieces as associated? By this I mean were the O seppa supposed to belong to this tsuba? I ask this because the O seppa appear to me to be earlier than the tsuba, which is I believe Edo period. If they are associated then it raises a few interesting questions in my mind.

[jason_mazzy]

They were on the same mount which seemed to have some mismatched pieces including a rusty ashi that had a gold dragon under the rust

[sanjuro]

That sort of gels with what was troubling me about this pairing.

I think that these O seppa are not intended for this tsuba. Firstly, they appear earlier than the Tsuba. Secondly, the tsuba has hitsu ana in the form of a double kogai ana. This was a practice of tsubako in the Edo period. A tachi tsuba in the pure sense does not have hitsu ana, although some were later pierced with them to remount them on Katana. This tsuba seems to have been produced with hitsu ana, rather than having them pierced later.

It is unusual to find a tachi tsuba that has decoration that would be hidden by the Oseppa if indeed it was intended to have O seppa fitted. Such tachi tsuba that were intended to have O seppa were usually plain or if decorated, the decoration would appear outside of the surface that would be covered by the O seppa.

The O seppa are quite interesting. I think they are earlier just by the style, quality of finish and patination. They really are quite a fine set.

 

(Just out of interest, I have a good quality plain iron tachi tsuba that these would match perfectly, should you ever wish to dispose of them) ........ :D

[jason_mazzy]

I concur. I was quite curious as to why the seppa would cover up the hitsu ana and all the decoration. The tsuba is quite heavy also. very thick and must weigh a pound LOL. But I like it.