3 Questions About Humble Tsuba

[johnnyi]

Thank you for helping answer a few questions.  I know you see a lot of this motif, the halo in back of Buddha, or reflection on water, etc. and some are really awful and some of good. I bought this particular one because I liked it, it was cheap, and it looked like a skilled artist did the cutting. 73.8mm  by 70.4 mm by 3.9 mm thickest point with very little taper towards rim. Forging layer visible on rim.   Questions are these: 

 

What is the term for this type of carving using a chisel, not a rasp?

 

About how long would it take a tsubako to accomplish?

 

Is there a guess what school it might be?

 

Thanks for your help!

 

 

regards,  John Irwin

 

 

[Brian]

Paging Dr Ford....Dr Ford to the Tosogu theater...

[Ford Hallam]

:-)

 

From what I can make out (rubbish focus, John   ) this pattern looks like it was made with a boat hull shaped punch. By interlocking the punch indents a sort of net effect has been created.

I just did a little test with a similar punch to check that approach compared to chiselling it.

 

Not every technique or application of a tool etc. has a label. And many used by the collecting fraternity today would be unknown to the Edo period makers. This pattern does look deliberately net-like.

 

Probably 3 days to make, from a small cast ingot to finished tsuba.

 

School?  sorry, your guess is as good as mine :-)

[johnnyi]

Ford, the picture is terrible and I apologize.   Thank you very much for identifying how this was made; far more info then I hoped for. (can't believe you actually tested the boat hull punch!  much thanks  )   Not to embarrass with  effusiveness, but I do speak for everyone in saying how fortunate we are here to have you share your knowledge with us. Thank you

 

John Irwin 

 

 

 

p.s. No, my guess is not as good as your's

[Ford Hallam]

Happy to help where I can, John

 

Actually the punch is similar in general form to the one I used to create the fur on the Katsuhira's tiger utsushi in the film. There I deliberately kept the alignment constantly varying while moving in a general direction. To create the effect of uneven fur that was flowing over the cats body.  In the case of the net effect the placement must be relatively exact.

 

I'm presently carving some tiny mon menuki, while shuttling back and forth between my computer desk and my work bench behind me, so as I had some copper plate on hand to testing chisel effects as I work It was easy enough to test my idea as to how your tsuba was made. :-)

[ROKUJURO]

John,
 

to add an answer you did not ask for: the design may be called AMIDA YASURI ME, although no file was used, as you have remarked. The 'net-effect' is indeed stunning!

You wrote that a layering from forging is visible, so I guess that it is an iron TSUBA. My impression is that it is a late EDO JIDAI item and it is quite skillfully made, so not your everyday AMIDA YASURI ME TSUBA.

[johnnyi]

Thanks Jean. I had wondered why the border lines were straight, and Ford explained that once the diamond was punched then the tool could be nudged along to create the straight lines, and its suspected that's what was done here.

[lotus]

Found a Tsuba with the same type of net-like amida yusiri. Have we figured out what school did this type of work?

 

Diameter 6.4 cm

Thickness .3 cm

[MauroP]

Here below 3 tsuba with the same surface pattern, 2 papered as tōshō an one as katchūshi. Anyway I don't think this pattern is the hallmark of a specific school.

In the papers this kind of surface is reported as amida-ishime-ji (阿弥陀石目地), hiashi-chirimen-ji (日足縮緬地) or kaben-amida-mon-ji (花弁阿弥陀文地).
Bye, Mauro

[lotus]

Thanks for the info Mauro, your second one which I assume was Tosho looks very similar to the one I posted. Would you think the one I posted is Tosho?

[MauroP]

I'd assume that if submitted to NBTHK shinsa your tsuba most probably would get a tõshõ attribution.