Yagyu tsuba or not?

[menpo]

Hi gents!

I require a little bit of help from some people who are far more knowledgable than myself.

I recently purchased this tsuba in an estate sale and wanted to know your views on it. The box it came in had yagyu written on the bottom but I didn't know this till after I purchased it. I really liked the tsuba and it does seem to have that molten yakite finish. I have looked in sasano's book and there are two very similar tsuba in there on pages 221 and 234 But they both have sukashi of pine trees. The dimensions of the tsuba I purchased and the ones in sasano's book are almost identical but, having never seen a genuine yagyu tsuba up close I can only go by pictures. I'd like to get some of your thoughts on this one. I know that it is pretty plain in design and there are quite a few schools it could be but I'm hoping to narrow it down a bit on school and time period. I apologise in advance for the pictures as my camera is playing up but it looks a lot better in the hand than the pictures make out. Thanks again for any help you can give.

 

 

Gethin

[sabi]

Dimensions?

 

I'm familiar with the "pines in the distance" sukashi seen on this design. My question is, did yagyu smiths make solid plate tsuba?

[Grey Doffin]

Gethin,

Puts me in mind of Higo but I'm no authority. I do think it is an excellent tsuba; congrats.

Grey

[sabi]

I do think it is an excellent tsuba; congrats.

Grey

 

Agreed, surface and patina look lovely from here.

[Brian]

Yep..I think you did good.

 

Brian

[menpo]

Thanks guys!

 

Evan, the dimensions are 71x67 mm with a thickness of 4.5 mm. Has anyone seen a solid plate yagyu before? Grey, I thought higo on first impression or maybe umetada but I'm not so sure anymore. The quality of the iron is definitely among the best I've got.

 

Gethin

[Marius]

Both the excellent iron and the design tell me it is a Higo. The Higo specialists here will certainly be able to tell you which master's shop has produced this tsuba. I reckon it is a later Jingo, maybe a student work, and a good one, too :-) I might be wrong about the attribution, but the quality is obvious.

 

Well done

[menpo]

Thanks gents!

I've looked up all the higo literature I have and I can't find any similar designs. I picked this tsuba up in the same sale. Same molten surface and an interesting treatment of the kozuka ana. Not a pillow and not completely filled in either. I haven't seen this been done before. Is it particular to any school?

 

Thanks again

 

Gethin

[Grey Doffin]

Hi Gethin,

Here is a Higo tsuba from my site that is similar to yours.

http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.c ... -wonderful

Grey