Strange tsuba

[svarsh]

At least it looks strange to me, but I am absolutely not an expert. I found similar tsuba at The Carlo Monzino Collection of Japanese Sword Fittings and Swords, Sotheby's, London, 18 June 1996, pp.12-13; but there was no description other than Heianjo Style Tsuba, Momoyama Period. Any comments from the members would be very much appreciated.

Thank you,

Sergei

[Chishiki]

Hi Sergei. Check out this thread regarding this type of tsuba. Regards Mark. viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8047

[svarsh]

Thanks Mark. Interesting thread. But the question was not answered: who made, when and why? Obviously, the tsuba makes of the time were capable of making beautiful things that looked pretty natural. Why somebody made a number of these very strange objects and what he wanted to convey? People did not make those things for fun, they made it for living, right? If it was a trainee, why so many? Or it was a class where every pupil was asked to make his own copy? Also, metals were not cheap, and it's likely that unsold tsuba were disassembled and parts reused. Why we still have many of those these days?