Repaired Sukashi Tsuba

[JohnTo]

Hi guys,

I thought that this sukashi tsuba may be of interest on account of an old(?) repair to the sukashi.  This maru gata iron sukashi tsuba depicts various plants including a branch of plumb blossom, a wisteria flower and an unknown flower attached to a thin stem with a couple of four lobed leaves (Any idea what these are?).  The seppa dai has copper seki gane and tegane marks on both sides, that differ in style.  There are no hitsu ana, per se, but one side has a shakudo shim let into the seppa dai and the other (damaged) side has evidently lost the shim.  The mimi is covered with fine granular tekkotsu; and based on this I’ll stick my neck out and assign it to Shoami rather than Kyo-sukashi workmanship.  I’m not going to hazard a date as we newby collectors tend to go for early (pre-Edo) dates!  I’m also not going to definitely say which is the omote and which is the ura on this tsuba.  The design, tegane marks, lack of defined hitsu ana and damage could indicate that it could have been mounted on a sword reversibly.  But OK, I’ll go with the plum blossom on the right when viewed from the front.

At some time in its history this tsuba seems to have been subject to an impact on the left side, between the four lobed leaves and the mimi.  This impact twisted this part of the sukashi and broke two of the fine links to the seppa dai.  It probably also resulted in loss of the shakudo shim of the hitsu ana on the seppa dai.  The link between the four lobed leaf and the seppa dai was repaired using two small pieces of metal (2mmx1mm), but the twist in the sukashi was not (fully) corrected.  I don’t think that this was a result of classic battle damage by a sword, pole arm or musket ball as there appears to be no metal to metal impact marks.  It is more as if the tsuba had been hit by something relatively soft, e.g. a piece of wood.

After spending some time examining the tsuba, I have come up with this rather fanciful explanation of the damage (other theories welcome).  It is perhaps an urban myth that some fencing masters were so good that they gave up using real swords and when accepting challenges from inferiors and used pieces of wood, or even pot lids.  It may be that the owner of this tsuba fenced with one of these masters and managed to parry a blow with the tsuba.  Out of respect for the master and the encounter, the tsuba was never fully repaired.  Besides, it would have made a good talking point with other samurai over a few drinks.

I guess that the damage would exclude this tsuba from a shinsa, but it does add a bit of interest.

Height: 7.9 cm; Width: 7.7 cm: Thickness (rim): 0.5 cm: Weight: 77 g

Best regards, John

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