Tsuba Theme

[Chishiki]

Hi folks. Just digging up this old thread as I found this tsuba online. Could someone translate the Japanese please. Regards Mark

[Stephen]

Mark no grave digging...should have left that ugly thing in its grave.

[Chishiki]

Butt ugly to some and quirky to others. A face only a mother can love? Sorry to haunt you Stephen. Lol. Mark

[Chishiki]

Ok so this dealer describes it as Kyoraku Meisho which is see means Famous Places in Kyoto. A long shot could be Hirosawa Pond. So, these could have been sold as momentos to people making the journey to this place. Oh well... as good a guess as anything. Mark

[Tanto54]

Here's a similar thread from 2017 with info about an almost identical tsuba to the one that Mark found - http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/23000-help-identifying-theme-please/

 

The composition is so similar that they must be copying a published design (FWIW - I'm not saying that these appeal to me...)

 

[zanilu]

These are classified as Heianjo Zogan on Tanoshi Shinchu Zogan Tsuba by Otani.

 

 

Regards

Luca

[Chishiki]

Thanks Luca. Is Otani a school or a specific maker? Last piece of the puzzle. Mark

[vajo]

These pieces have a very abstract naturealism (i hope it is the correct word)

Some will it find ugly but i like that alien feeling when i look on the plants. You will find that in many western abstract and reduced naive paintings around 1920 1930. Very nice in my eyes.

[zanilu]

 

 

Is Otani a school or a specific maker? 

No Chishiki. It is the book author name (see http://www.japaneseswordbooksandtsuba.com/store/books/b970-tanoshi-shinshu-zogan-tsuba).

The school (in a very broad sense - I would rather say style) is Heianjo Zogan.

 

Luca

 

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