Help on year or orig. TSUBA

[tardjoker]

I have inherited a complete sword with a leather covered bamboo sacabard from my father. He aquired it during WWII. I've searched several sights over the last few years and not found a tsuba as detailed as this. The complete sword and all items seem to be in very good shape and I will post more pictures when I can figure out how to make them clear. this was done with a scanner. TKS

[Bungo]

Hikone ju..........

this is a Soten tsuba.

Not bad at all........looking forward to the sword !!

 

Milt THE ronin

[Mike]

You can find here: http://www.arco-iris.com/George/tsuba.htm#tsuba some examples for soten tsuba.

Mike

[Stephen]

 

great gift, you can scan the tang of the sword also, its sometimes better to put a blank sheet of colored paper over what your scaning ...dif colors will give a dif hue...do you have any kind of photo shop ? it helps to crop as well. looking forward to more pix...

[Pete Klein]

Welcome -- Milt hit it on the head -- definately Soten School, also known as 'Hikone Bori' or Hikone carving. Hikone is where Soten resided after leaving Kyoto during the mid-Edo period, around 1730. He founded a large school and according to Torigoye there were two generations of masters with many students. This was a very popular style at the time as the samurai dress had become rather ornate and colorful due to the long period of peace.

[tardjoker]

Many thanks to all that responded. I was surprised at how quick and how informative the replies were. I will post more pictures, as all parts are signed. The more you do and the better you do it, the more they give you to do. TKS. Jack

[Kevin Adams]

Hi guys, I was wondering if there were any books or resources that dealt specifically with the Soten school (ie, history, photography, etc)...I've been given an oportunity to purchase a Soten tsuba, and would like to learn more about this school...

 

Thanks!

[Rich T]

Hi Kevin, welcome. Just some additional information for you.

 

The tsuba is signed Gôshû Hikoni Ju [ 江刕彦根住 ] with 刕 being an alternate reading of shû.

 

There may be a specific book available on the Sôten school but I am unaware of it. There is some information in Nihontô Koza Kodogu V1 and also Tsuba, An Aesthetic Study", by Kazutaro Torigoye and Robert Haynes available from the NCJSC ( I think out of print still ).

 

Also, in regards to Soten, it is worth reading Jim Gilbert's site, there is somevery useful inofrmation there. Jim host's information found in the Haynes publications and it is quite interesting.

 

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

 

Search for Soten and you will find the relivent bits. I would personally be guessing your tsuba fits into the later Soten catagory.

 

Hope this helps a bit

 

Cheers

 

Rich Turner

[Kevin Adams]

That's great, thanks a lot Rich...I've been trying to track down a copy of the Haynes book for some time now, but I'll have another look through Jim Gilbert's site again in the meantime...