Nothing Like Old Iron...

[Soshin]

Hi Everyone,

 

Many on NMB might thought I have been getting soft with my latest two acquisitions being a set of Shakudo menuki and fancy ko-wakizashi. Here is also something I was luckily enough to pick up on trade at the Philadelphia Japanese sword show in October. A old iron middle Muromachi Period Ko-Kachushi tsuba. I am dating it as such based upon previous owners comments and my own independent research of the piece as it sets in my collection. The surface has been covered with black lacquered that is typical of this specific time period of production. The measurements of the tsuba are 8.1 cm wide by 8.2 cm high. The thickness at the rim is 2.5 mm and is 3.0 mm at the seppa-dai. The rim also displays small tekkotsu. On Jim Gilbert's website there are a number of early iron both Ko-Kachushi and Ko-Tosho tsuba with similar characteristics. Here is URL to the website I am referring to: http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/oldiron2.htm.

 

Did some research and the enacted kamon ko-sukashi design on the right side consisting of the five circles surrounding one circle is called a "Umehach" in Japanese meaning plum bowl. The design was used by the Hisamatsu Matsudaira family before and during the Sengoku Jidai (Warring States Period). This information would be consistent with the dating of the tsuba to the middle Muromachi Period. I also checked Sasano first book Early Japanese Sword Guards Sukashi Tsuba it has a Ko-Kachushi tsuba dated to the early Muromachi Period that was a gift to a Shrine in Kyoto by the third Ashikaga Shogun Yoshimitsu that has a similar punch mark design on its surface also with extensive openwork. It is pictured on page 46 example #14. There is another Ko-Katchishi tsuba on page 44 example #12 with the same type of surface treatment made with a narrow curricular punch. On page 36 of the 2009 Kokusai Tosogu Kai Catalog there is also a similar Ko-Kachushi tsuba with a similar surface treatment and thickness of the plate.

 

Shumei of red lacquer on the omote side is in the shape of the kanji for the number seven (shichi 七) also carved twice on both sides of the seppa-dai on the ura side. These are crudely carved not like a signature or anything. I think the meaning for the number seven has long been forgotten. Any reasonable ideas why someone would write the number seven along the seppa-dai?

 

Here is a link to high resolutions photo of this tsuba on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201865051906367&l=51ad39e1c2. I hope to add a few different photos of it to my website soon. Below is a low resolution photo I was able to upload to NMB.

[Soshin]

B. B. Bump!

Some random thoughts about my tsuba.

 

Found a similar tsuba in terms of age and classification on this website: http://www.juyo-bi.com/sales.html.

 

Have a nice "paper thin" early Edo Period Saotome tsuba with a lead insert into a early kogai-hitsu ana list on my homepage (link below).

 

Saving for a papered Yagyu tsuba with a similar lead insert into a kozuka hitsu-ana.

[cabowen]

.... "Umehach" in Japanese meaning plum bowl....

 

I think you mean "umebachi"　　● 梅鉢 ● うめばち ● UMEBACHI

 

Nice tsuba!

[Peter Bleed]

David,

Terrific tsuba! Old iron at its best. Thanks.

Peter

[Soshin]

 

I think you mean "umebachi"　　● 梅鉢 ● うめばち ● UMEBACHI

 

Nice tsuba!

 

Hi Chris B.,

 

Yes the tsuba looks and feels very nice in hand. Thank you so much for the correction I can across a Wikipedia article in Japanese that discuss the clan that used this family crest. I likely was transliteration it incorrectly into rōmaji. Here is a Wikipedia article link to those who can read Japanese: 久松氏.

 

Hi Peter B.,

 

I can't agree more. I have a general rule to handle shakudo and other soft metals with white cotton gloves but with old iron like this it is best to feel it in hand without gloves.

 

P.S. Here is another nice photo of this tsuba on a tsuba stand at a different angle. Enjoy...

[BMarkhasin]

Nice find David. This piece is a notch up for your collection of old iron. I would add that the surface treatment is an old style, seen commonly from late Kamakura through the Muromachi. This surface pitting ornamentation seems to have been popular on both soft metal and iron tsuba, but of course time has removed most iron examples. Take a look back through some of Mariusz' posts of kokinko tsuba and you will see this style of surface treatment. This is essentially a kokinko tsuba in iron. This style of surface texture, with the robust sukashi on both sides of the nakago and the udenukiana on the bottom is considered mid - late Muromachi in most cases, so i would concur with your dating as plausible. I would suggest the kozuka ana was either added or increased in size as it clearly cuts out the original blossom sukashi (plum blossom?). Keep finding pieces such as this...

Boris

[Soshin]

Nice find David. This piece is a notch up for your collection of old iron. I would add that the surface treatment is an old style, seen commonly from late Kamakura through the Muromachi. This surface pitting ornamentation seems to have been popular on both soft metal and iron tsuba, but of course time has removed most iron examples. Take a look back through some of Mariusz' posts of kokinko tsuba and you will see this style of surface treatment. This is essentially a kokinko tsuba in iron. This style of surface texture, with the robust sukashi on both sides of the nakago and the udenukiana on the bottom is considered mid - late Muromachi in most cases, so i would concur with your dating as plausible. I would suggest the kozuka ana was either added or increased in size as it clearly cuts out the original blossom sukashi (plum blossom?). Keep finding pieces such as this...

Boris

 

Hi Boris,

 

Thanks for the very helpful information. I think the mon-sukashi plum blossom on the left side was damaged and the kozuka hitsu-ana was then added. I think the mon-sukashi might have looked like this before the damage and the addition of the kozuka hitsu-ana.

 

The reasoning for this conclusion is the fact that the punch pattern neatly goes around the edges of the three ko-sukashi designs forming a clear border but the punch pattern is clearly interrupted at the edges of the kozuka hitsu-ana. Here is a detail showing what I am talking about.

[Soshin]

Hi Everyone,

 

Here is a Ko-Kinko example to show what Boris is talking about in terms of surface treatment: http://blog.goo.ne.jp/tsuba_001/e/8da643da369f09d54424badab0dd07b7. The placement of the mon-sukashi with a smooth border is also very similar to my iron tsuba.

 

P.S. I also found this Ko-katchushi tsuba on the same blog. It shows the same type of surface treatment and the thin rim is also similar.

[Pete Klein]

David -- I believe what actually happened was that the sukashi was simply deepened toward the seppadai at some point to allow for use of the tsuba on a narrower saya. If you follow the edge of the sukashi it is fluent circumferentially without punch marks and a flowing curvature into the sukashi until you reach the base where this band ends and the punch marks instead fall into the sukashi. This is where the metal would have been removed. Here is an idea of the original metal area (and please forgive any crudeness in the coloring as I'm not very adept at these enhancements):

 

[Soshin]

Hi Pete K.,

 

Thank you so much for joining the discussion. I forgot to disclose that the side I was showing in my zoom photo was on the back side of the tsuba that faces the saya. Your explanation of the deepening of the sukashi towards the seppa-dai to fit a narrower saya makes sense. Not sure if this tsuba ever had an original kozuka hitsu-ana or not given the close placement of the mon-sukashi on both sides of the seppa-dai.

P.S. On a additional note I have found two Ko-Tosho tsuba with similar damage to its mon-sukashi.

 

Ko-Tosho Tsuba

[Pete Klein]

Or -- how about this:

 

 

LOL!

[Soshin]

Hi Pete K.,

 

Your art work looks good to me in terms of what the mon-sukashi looked like then the tsuba was newly made. Thanks again for your input into this discussion.

[Pete Klein]

My pleasure David! What had bothered me (as in a lot) was the presence of a kozuka hitsu ana in the first place. If you go by the time frame Boris mentioned a kozuka hitsu ana doesn't make sense. The ones we see on early pieces have been added later, at least from what I've learned so far. Those two 'prongs' bothered me also but then it hit me that they looked out of line, as if bent away from their original angulations. What I did (and covered up) was to create lines which connected the opposing points in the design and it gave me a reference for the original design. From that I could see the symmetry of where the additional petal would be placed. I then colored it in et, voila! LOL!

 

[Brian]

Pete,

From what remains, that seems very plausible if not highly likely.

 

Brian

[Soshin]

Pete,

From what remains, that seems very plausible if not highly likely.

 

Brian

 

Hi Everyone,

 

Agree with Brian. Pete's explanation seems highly likely given that the broken sukashi 'prongs' look bent and out of alignment.

[Soshin]

Hi Everyone,

 

Was doing some thinking and came up with an additional question. Since Pete K. was able to come up with what the design of the mon-sukashi looked like before it was damaged and/or altered can it be attributed to a specific clan like the mon-sukashi on the right?

[MauroP]

Hi David, really an interesting tsuba. I wish just to remind that the punctinated surface is called hari-ishime (針石目). The mon-sukashi could be katabami (片喰), i.e. not a flower but leaves of wood sorrel.

Bye, Mauro

[Soshin]

Hi Maruo P.,

 

Thanks for joining the discussion and provide some helpful information. I did some web searching on katabami (片喰) kamon design. I found the following information.

The plain katabami crest the design once on my tsuba was used by many clans including the Nitta, Hida, Nakajō, Taga, Aki Fukuhara, Sakai, Shinshi, Odachi, Wada, Kido, Nakazawa, Okada, and Hosokawa Reizei.

More information about the kamon design and common variations can be obtain on the website the above quote is taken from: http://history.stackexchange.com/questions/14178/meaning-of-samurai-crest-symbol. Searching Japanese Wikipedia (great resource of information if your know a little Japanese) I found this article about the Nakajō clan that used an identical kamon design as the damaged mon-sukashi on my tsuba. I wounder what the relationship was between the two clans who's kamon is pictured on the tsuba. I know that the Hisamatsu Matsudaira clan were retainers of Oda Nobunaga during Sengoku-jidai and before that likely the Ashikaga Shogun. More food for thought and discussion.