Heianjo Tsuba or not ?

[Pete Klein]

Ford  - I have for some time wondered if the actual source for these tsuba was in 'kabukimono' as these tsuba would go well with that style of dress and deportment (or lack thereof):

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabukimono

[Ford Hallam]

Hi Pete, it's quite possible. I think if we have a look at the social changes and trends/fashions of time it's not hard to imagine the exuberance and excitement that marked the period and that after years of strife the possibility of a new age dawning was no doubt quite a stimulus in all sorts of creative fields and social expressions.

[Pete Klein]

Tea utensils under Rikyu => tea utensils under Oribe...   Noh => Kabuki...   Laurence Olivier => Rowan Atkinson... ... ROFLMFAO!

[Ford Hallam]

not sure what the game is based on the examples offered thus far but I'll give it a go...

 

Shakuhachi - saxophone

 

Baroque chamber music - Miles Davis

 

Classical ballet - the modern dance movement a la Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Merce Cunningham et al.

 

Buster Keaton - Bill Hicks

 

Robert Johnson - Led Zeppelin

[roger dundas]

This is a first for me and 'm feeling a little wary- but what an outstanding discussion and what's more for Tsuba collectors, what a revelation.

I suppose it's because heianjo tsuba appeal to me the most.

Roger Dundas

[roger dundas]

I'm not sure of the relevance of the following but in the mid 1800s and earlier the Afghan Pathans used a gun called by them-a jezail which was up until then a better and more accurate weapon over a distance than the flintlocks used by the British and Indian armies. But after the mid 1800s with the dramatic improvement in western firearms which both the British soon followed by the Pathans obtained, the jezail became obsolete.

Now what I am getting at is that these plain, unadorned but highly effective weapons began to be embellished( but not visually improved ) with brass overlay decoration, attached with tacks . Quite spoiled to my eyes.

These were subsequently sold to tourists.

It was the urge to decorate a onetime weapon of war that I thought was comparable.

 

Roger Dundas

[Ken-Hawaii]

An interesting supposition. And, since Heianjo tsuba did start around Momoyama, when arts & crafts were more important than war (for once), embellishment of tsuba seems like a possible rationale.

[Surfson]

Not sure why, but I quite like Heianjo, Onin and Yoshiro tsuba.  They are usually Momoyama and therefore have considerable age, they often have a great patina, the designs can be very nice, and generally they are quite large.  I stumbled across some on ebay that comprised the Gary Murtha collection and it turns out that Gary was listing them as he had decided to liquidate his collection.  I was able to buy what I thought were the nicest ones from his collection, including one quite like the original tsuba that started this thread.

[Kurikata]

Hi Robert, can we have a picture of this Tsuba similar to mine ?

[Surfson]

Hi Bruno.  It is actually two, each of which has elements of yours as it turns out.  I am throwing in a third one just for discussion.  One I think is a lock with snowflakes and the other is an image of wagon wheels and snow.  Cheers, Bob

[Surfson]

Sorry, don't know why the software rotated them.  B

[PietroParis]

Hi Robert,

 

On a mac, I would open each picture with "Preview", rotate it four times (i.e. 360 degrees, back to the original orientation) and then save it. This guarantees that the picture is displayed correctly.

 

Cheers, Pietro