New Year Tsuba

[JohnTo]

Happy New Year, guys.  Just to start the ball rolling I’m posting a New Year tsuba.

I believe that the design represents the ceremony of wakamizu, the drawing of the first water from a well on New Year’s Day, hence the rope garland around the tree.  It must be in the south of Japan as the cherry blossom is out (ok, artistic licence).  The tsuba has a hammered plate and is unsigned, but my best guess is that it may be from the Nara school where Kaneshige produced similar styled works around 1700.  Comments welcome.

 

The rim of the tsuba seems to be bound with an iron fukurin (band).  This may just be carved into the plate of the tsuba, or possibly the rim has been hammered back on itself (uchikaeshi mimi), which seems to be a complex and skilful task. The tsuba has a takazogan inlay of coloured metals (gold, silver and shakudo) depicting a branch of a cherry blossom tree with a garland around the main branch.  Below this is a square well head with a silver bucket and gold rope next to a small shakudo rock and ground plants.  The reverse has a twig of blossom together with a small ground plant and rock picked out in gold and shakudo, respectively. 

 

Height: 8.2 cm.  Width: 7.6 cm.  Thickness: 0.3 cm

January 25^th is the Chinese New Year, the Year of the Rat.  So lets see a few New Year tsuba.

Best Wishes for 2020, but please don’t bid against me for the tsuba that I want to buy.  John

 

[yogoro]

Yes , is Wakamizu kumi  (New year event) theme tsuba. Similar tsuba made by

 

Tamagawa Masaharu with seal  signed in gold takazogan .62 x 59 x 4 mm

 

[Pete Klein]

Most likely plum blossoms.

[JohnTo]

Thanks Pete, agreed.  Looks more like plum.  John