Moritsuna and the fisherman

[JohnTo]

One of the aspects that appeals to me about collecting pictorial tsuba is discovering what the design represents.  Often the story behind the design eludes me for several years, as is the case of this example, which I hope is of interest.

This small iron tsuba was evidently made for a wakizashi and depicts a samurai in full armour, holding a spear and gazing into the distance, while a peasant kneels at his feet.  The samurai is standing below a pine tree and looking over an expanse of water, possible a sea.  On the far side are two silver gilt triangles, the sails of two distant boats that the samurai looking at.  On the reverse are two stoops of rice tipped with gold.  The details on the tsuba are highlighted with gold, silver and copper inlay.  The samurai, peasant and pine tree are all raised above the surface of the tsuba and appear to have been formed by hammering the body of the tsuba, as shown by the undulating surface, leaving proud areas which were then carved.  The nakago ana has some long tegane at the top and bottom and a single kodzuka hitsu ana.  Overall, the tsuba is in good condition, showing some wear to the gilding.  It is mumei and I think it probably dates from the 19thC, possibly from the Shoami or Kaneie Myochin School.  Other attributions welcome.

A shakudo nanako tsuba with a similar design was offered for sale by AoiArt (F21022, https://www.aoijapan.com/tsubamumei-battle-of-fujito/) and was described as showing a scene from the battle of Fujito.  According to Internet sources, the battle of Fujito, Kojima, Bizen Province took place on 7^th December 1184 during the Gempei wars and is described in the Heike Monogatari.  Taira forces (500 men) were holed up in a castle on Kojima under the command of Taira no Yukimori, effectively out of reach of the Minamoto forces.  Sasaki Moritsuna asked a fisherman to show him a path through the shallows so that his men could cross to the island and attack the Taira.  One version of the story says that Moritsuna was rewarded by being given large parts of the area around Kojima.  The fisherman was not so lucky; Moritsuna killed him immediately after learning of the path to prevent the fisherman informing anyone of the plan of attack.

I’ve also attached two prints; The first by Mizuno Toshikata shows Moritsuna asking the fisherman for directions.  The second by Kuniyoshi shows Moritsuna’s horsemen crossing the sea, up to their necks in seawater.  Another version of the crossing shows Moritsuna’s troops crossing on virtually dry land.  In view of the fate of the poor fisherman I hope that the Kuniyoshi print is a more accurate depiction of the crossing and that Moritsuna had to fight in waterlogged armour and that his sword rusted from the seawater!

I would guess that this tsuba was made for one of the ‘hoi polloi’, rather than a samurai, as the design hardly exemplifies the ‘samurai warrior ideal’, such as found on Soten tsuba; murdering a poor unarmed fisherman after he had been so helpful.

Tsuba data: Height: 6.6 cm: Width: 6.0 cm: Thickness (rim): 0.3 cm: Weight: 62 g

Best regards, John

(Just a guy making observations, asking questions and trying to learn)

[Bugyotsuji]

John, thank you for that. Very interesting. I have heard that locals in the area hated the name Sasaki ever afterwards. There used to be large areas of Sasa (a kind of short leafy bamboo) but these were all uprooted because of the name association. (Sure to be a myth, though.)

 

I wonder if the design on the back of your tsuba might not be fishing net contraptions. (?)

[John A Stuart]

Cast nets look like that when hung on net racks. Gill net racks are usually horizontal bars just like for hanging laundry. John

[MauroP]

Hi, here below is the entry relating to Fujito from vol. 3 of "Tsuba-Kodōgu Gadai Jiten", for those who want to learn more (and translate ...)

[JohnTo]

Thanks Piers and Mauro,

You are correct they are nets.  I assumed that they were rice stoops from similar features on other tsuba and pictures, i.e conical shapes bound at the top.  However mine shows criss cross cuts and not lines in just one direction, so they must be nets, especially in the context of this tsuba.  And thank you Mauro, but as I cant copy and paste the text into Google translate, I'll give it a miss as my Japanese in not very good.  Arigato.

 

best regards, John

[MauroP]

I've made the transcription (some OCR work pretty well), now we need someone making a translation better than Google.

 

藤戸
満々たる水を乗り切る騎馬武者。その弓の弭にとりつく鎧武者。この図を、鐔・小道具の社会では「藤戸」と 言い

慣わしてきている。
これは源平合戦の場面で、先陣争いで知られる「藤戸の渡し」である。『源平盛衰記』によると平家は「左馬 頭行

盛を大将軍として、飛騨守景家以下侍共を相具して、二千余艘にて備前国児島著。三川守範頼も、同国西河

尻、藤戸渡に押寄て陣取。源平海を隔て招合い」睨み合いの状態となった。この時、源氏の将佐々木三郎盛綱

(宇治川先陣で知られた佐々木四郎高綱の兄)が一人の漁夫を見つけ、 これに物を与えて藤戸の潮の干満、

深浅を教 わり、騎馬で渡る自信を得て「二十六日の辰刻に......主従十五騎轡をならべて海へ颯と打入て

ぞ渡ける」。源氏 の諸将もこれに続いて押渡る、盛綱は先陣を果たしたのであるが、この時、盛綱の家来の和比

八郎が平家の侍加 部源次と組合って馬から落ち、水中の格闘で首を切られる。八郎の従兄弟の小林三郎重隆

が源次と引組み、また 海に落ちる。
「波の荒き所へ弓のほこを指入れて、彼此捜りければ、敵の源次弓の筈に取附たり。引上見れば敵也。主の小

林も源次が腰にいだき附て上りければ、敵の源次をば頸を切、主をば取上助てけり」これを写したのがこの小柄 で

あるが、源三位頼政の「橋合戦」にも弓弭に取りつく武者があるので紛らわしい。川柳に「先陣 兄弟ながら 手が

悪し」とあるのは、佐々木高綱が宇治川で梶原景季を欺いたことと、三郎盛綱が藤戸の浅瀬を教えた漁 夫を殺

したとの俗説によるものである。

 

[Bugyotsuji]

To translate that would mean turning Shakespeare or Chaucer into modern English. It would take time. Easier and quicker to find the story online already translated here and there. 

[Yasaka Azuma]

A Noh song Fujito had a story after the event, saying, "A fisherman's mother appears and grudges Morituna to return her child. In front of the crying old woman, Morituna is herself. I apologize for confessing the atrocious. Then, while running a grand memorial service for the fisherman, the ghost of the fisherman appears and resents again. "The work of Motokiyo Zeami, a Noh actor in the early Muromachi period.

[John A Stuart]

That is a gorgeous kodzuka. John