Tsuba Signature: Bushu Ju _(?)_ _(?)_ Kiyo

[Curran]

I've owned and had this tsuba on display a very long time.

 

I must shameface admit I do not remember the signature.

Second to last is simple, but seems incomplete. It isn't Akikiyo, or Harukiyo. Not sure how to read it.

Help is greatly appreciated.

 

 

[SteveM]

Gave it the college try, but came up empty-handed. I was thinking along the lines of 家月清, or 斎清, but those were dead-ends. 

 

Possible to get another shot of the kanji(s) above 清? 

[Curran]

Steve M,

 

As always, thanks for your help.

I will try with photos again later, though the dark-n-cloudy day does not bode well.

 

I'd considered 月, but the character is odd in that it doesn't seem to have the top stroke and looks more like an H with two crossbars.

That turns up nothing on Jisho.org, nor does drawing the character above it.

[kissakai]

Could the first kanji be 亦 ?

I agree that it is difficult to see all the strokes

 

 

Grev UK

[Stephen]

Maybe upgrade to smart phone, my LG G4 takes better pix than my Sony cam.

[Curran]

Yes, our old Canon Sureshot has its good and bad days.

Stephen, I actually was just working on updating the smart phone since ours is a few years old.

 

---  I was trying to figure out the two characters and totally stumped by the first one.

Looking at the second character under magnification, it just a sort of a double cross-bar H with some hook at top and bottom.

----Then I just happened to look up at the Chinese painting above our fireplace that we've had for 20 years. "Lotus and Kingifisher" 1930 by artist Xie Yuemei....

Same double cross-bar H as in her signature 'Yuemei'.

 

The Kiyo character is correct, but how to read 月清 in any way that makes sense or is a recorded artist hasn't come up yet.

I will draw and scan in the first character, as it is an odd one and drawing it in Jisho.org provided no direct hits.

[John A Stuart]

When we see a better pic, it'll certainly help ?月清 something gessei or gassei are potential. John

[Nobody]

齊清 - Narikiyo ???

[John A Stuart]

That kanji certainly seems like it, 齊 Saito or Hitoshi; Nari ?? Not the usual Bushu group moniker eh? John

[Curran]

Moriyama-san, 

あけましておめでとうございます - Happy New Year

Today was 12 hours of rain, so no more photographs.

I put the tsuba under magnification and drew the signature. I know the first character looks strange [wide spread in spacing], but that is very very near to how it is on the tsuba.

 

I greatly appreciate the help, as this one has me befuddled.

 

[SteveM]

Yep, that's the one that Moriyama-san picked out.

 

齊清　(齊 is a variation of 齋, 斎, and 斉). (I tossed it from the list of candidates because it didn't appear in my reference  ). Meikan more?

 

Edit: I should add that I don't have a clue as to how you would pronounce this. Moriyama-san suggests Narikiyo. 齊 almost invariably appears as part of the name 齋藤 (Saitō) and hardly ever appears anywhere else, at least in everyday conversation.

[Curran]

Thank you gentlemen.

This was certainly beyond my ability.

 

There is no way I would have gotten 'Nari'.

I did not know the way for writing Saito, but then I've always been surprised that some of the more common names like 'Watanabe' have quite a number of strokes to them.

 

I'll cross my books as much as possible and see if I can find any match. As John said, it does seem rather unusual name for a Bushu work.

With all the Art Nouveau - Durgin Iris feel to it, it seems classically Bushu or Bushu Ito. The signature: rather atypical than the usual Bushu Ito 'Masa____' line.

[kissakai]

Hi

I've looked through my books and nothing in Sesko or Wakiyama (the three volume  series)

Haynes has quite a few alternatives for both kanji but the only name I found that fits with Haynes is Toshikiyo but his only reference to Toshikiyo has a different kanji

Does this just go as an unrecorded maker?

 

 

Grev UK

[uwe]

Hi guys,

first to say, I`m not familiar with Tosogu at all. So please show a bit forbearance with me. Anyway, from what we see, the mei consists of 3 kanji. Consequently it should be something like that in the middle:

 

Only for example!

 

Or I`m totally wrong?

 

[Curran]

Grev,

 

I've caught a few kanji errors in Haynes before. Given the over 12,000 smiths he recorded- a few oops pop up on minor artists.

As to this being an unrecorded artist:  it might be, though skill level of the carving is very high. Might be an alternate name, or read differently, or ?

 

Uwe- your guess is as good or better than mine. This one totally stumped me.

As Steve guided us, hard to know how this one is pronounced vs how it was recorded.

 

I have this one on the side-desk to try and tackle more this weekend. It will eventually go up for sale, but I'm more hooked by the challenge of figuring it out first.

What is the point of having all of these books if I don't exhaust them first?