Leather /Lacquer tsuba

[gtstcactus]

I'm looking (without much success) for any & all images of leather tsuba (preferably with their lacquer mostly intact)...

 

I want to get an old leather tsuba I've got re-lacquered and am a little uncertain if it should be done in plain black lacquer or if some sort of design/border/mon should be incorporated. I'd like for it to be authentic... Most of the lacquer is gone from my tsuba so not a lot can be told about it's original finishing...

 

I've only been able to find images of 1 leather tsuba on the net so far...

 

Here's my tsuba (not pretty)... Some might remember it (tho it's not incredibly memorable at the moment) as I think I posted about it once before. It's in good shape structurally but about 80%-90% of the lacquer is gone....

 

Here's the only leather tsuba I've found pics of online... (currently for sale somewhere).. It has a finish that makes it look a bit like iron... Mine has a much more glossy finish (what's left of it).

[Marius]

http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/nerikawa.htm

 

http://www.nihontocraft.com/Nerikawa_Tsuba2.htm

 

plus a photograph and write-up by Boris Markhasin:

 

Nerikawa Tachi Tsuba

 

Nerikawa (leather) tsuba represent among the earliest traditions of tsuba craftsmen. In early times, they were very practical things, often consisting of 3-5 thin layers of hardened leather, lacquered and held together by a fukurin. In later periods, nerikawa tsuba among being quite rare, were often quite technical and visually appealing.

This tsuba was intended for use on a tachi and consists of 4 layers of hardended leather which have been carved and assembled to mimic a classic aoi tachi tsuba with o-seppa. The surface is black lacquered. Two mon are executed in a brownish lacquer on both sides of the tsuba -- the most prevalent being a bamboo leaf mon, as well as a 3-bar within a hexagon mon.

 

It is very hard to photograph or scan the tsuba due to the highly reflective lacquer, but the images provided should illustrate both mon styles, and the construction of the leather plates to resemble a tachi tsuba. Two hitsu ana were subsequently added and then plugged with patinated copper.

 

This tsuba is very rare and well preserved for the age. The vast majority of preserved nerikawa tsuba late to the late Edo period. This one is considerably older, technically complex and is skillfully lacquered with the two mon. It would make a nice discussion point in anyone's collection, and you would likely not see another such tsuba for years.

 

Momoyama to early Edo Period (ca 1590 - 1650) 8.0 x 8.0 x 0.4 cm.

[kaigunair]

You can goggle urushi to read about the dangers of using the real stuff. Any design would actually be a build up of many layers of urushi, and involve sanding and polishing. The whole process is pretty time intensive, so unless you are using some of the new cashew lacquer stuff, basically you're loosing any study value of this possibly genuine nerikawa tsuba, and putting $ and lots of time towards making a new tsuba.

 

If this is an edo period or older nerikawa tsuba, it still can offer opportunities to learn in this condition...like construction. But looks to be beyond any worthy restoration (designs like the one shown by marisk would also have been done through maki-e techniques on the leather surface), so perhaps it would be better to buy a new tsuba? Maybe sell this one off to cover part of the cost?

 

Else, you probably don't want to play with urushi, so whatever you do would probably be just the same as dipping this in house paint or putting on a layer of ceracote or rustoleum, which would be a little sad....

[dirk marshall]

A Leather tsuba I own

[John A Stuart]

As soon as summer arrives I will be re-lacquering a nerigawa kabuto with urushi. I have the urushi with various pigments. I will let you know how it goes and whether the work is worthwhile. John