Umemura tsuba with shoji

[JohnTo]

I’m posting this tsuba in the hope that some of you can help me answer the questions at the end.  Essentially it is a katana sized iron sukashi tsuba with a pair of large namako (sea cucumber) openings, which have been partially filled with shakudo shoji and a border for a hitsu ana.  The iron has a deep brown, purple appearance with couple of fold lines and a few granular tekkotsu on the mimi and plate.  I would guess that it is 19thC workmanship.  One side of the seppa dai has been cut back for a small kogai hitsu ana and the other side has been cut back to accommodate a much wider kodzuka (?).  Both hitsu ana are bound by shakudo inserts; an abstract cloud (?) on one side and shoji chess pieces on the other.  The tsuba differs from the usual namako sukashi tsuba in that the body is formed of three mokko type lobes instead of the usual two.  I have searched through several hundred pictures of tsuba in books, catalogues and was surprised not to find another three lobed mokko tsuba.  I suppose that three lobes resembles the Tokugawa mon and its use may have been restricted in the Edo period.  The nakago ana is surrounded by shallow tegane marks on one side and is fitted with copper seki gane.  The tsuba is signed on the seppa dai ‘Echizen ju Umemura’, or possibly Baimura (越前住梅村).

The left namako opening has an irregular cloud shaped piece of shakudo inserted which seems able to accommodate a very wide kodzuka.

The other namako opening has a pair of shakudo shoji (Japanese chess pieces) inserted and inlaid with gold identifying the pieces as the knight  and lance . on one side and the promoted silver  and the promoted lance . on the other (I think).  Ooops, I don't think the shoji pics will upload!

At the bottom of the tsuba there appears to be another shakudo insert across the mimi (I don’t think it is just a polished piece of iron).  This piece is 4 mm square, with perfectly cut straight edges and just a ‘sliver’ in thickness.  Possibly it was put there to hide a small imperfection in the iron.

Statistics: Height: 7.2 cm, Width: 7.3 cm, Thickness (rim) 0.5 cm, Weight 106g

Questions:  Has anyone information regarding the maker Echizen no ju Umemura?  I can find no tsubako named Umemura (lit. Plum village, but possibly read as Baimura).  The tsuba does not seem to have characteristics of the Echizen Kinai school.

The three lobed Mokko shape is unusual, does it have a name?  Sesko lists 5-,and 6- lobed forms as itsusu-mokko-gata and mutsu-mokko-gata, so three would be mitsu-mokko-gata using the same form of counters.

Any ideas on why the small square of shakudo was inserted into the mimi?

Is there any significance on the choice of shoji pieces?  I’m not familiar with the game but I understand that most pieces are double sided and flip over if captured.

Best regards, John

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

[ChrisW]

Strange that no one has replied to this yet. But the only logical response that I can think of is that the place where you have a different metal inset into the rim of the tsuba is perhaps the site of where a deep kirikome or flaw in the tsuba is found. Perhaps the owner cared enough to have it covered up for some reason. A lot of conjecture, but I can't think of any other logical reason.

[SteveM]

Wakayama lists Umemura (of Echizen) as a mid-Edo family of smiths, who eventually resided in Kaga, and signed as Kashū-jū Umemura saku. 

 

Shogi pieces strike me as a very late Edo motif. I think it could be a mid-Edo tsuba that was reworked or modified in late edo to include the shogi pieces. (And possibley repaired using the same shakudō as was used for the shogi pieces). 

[JohnTo]

Chris, Steve.  Thanks for your replies, especially for the information regarding Umemura.  Good old NMB for helping me learn so much about tsuba over the last couple of years.

I also thought that the shakudo shoji were a later addition and that the shakudo shim on the mimi might have been to repair a sword cut (practice, not warfare) as it would have been from a downward cut across the back of the blade.

I still have not found another example of a three lobed mokko tsuba though.  It seems such a pleasing and practical shape that I thought it would have been more common. 

 

best regards, John

[Kurikata]

John,

 

I found a tsuba which might be considered as a 3 lobed kawari tsuba (crane design) at a french auction in 2014: https://www.beaussantlefevre.com/lot/20604/4386823?npp=150&

[JohnTo]

Hi Bruno,

Thanks for the example of another 3 lobed tsuba.  I still can't help wondering why mokko gata tsuba with three fold symmetry shapes and designs are not nearly as popular as those with four fold symmetry.  The Japanese are very superstitious and the number 4 (shi) also means death and is considered bad luck, so they usually they avoid things with 4 in them.  However a 4-fold mokko gata shape is probably referred to using the alternative form of numerals (yotsu), i.e it is a yotsu-gata shape rather than a shi-gatsu one.

regards, John