Looking for more info on this late Edo period tsuba

[JSA]

Hi everyone,

 

I'm still getting my bearings on swordsmiths, let alone tsuba makers, and I'm having a hard time finding information on this beautiful piece. Every new bit of information would be extremely helpful, but here's what I know so far about it:

 

Chrysanthemum theme (duh!) and made of iron, the inscription says Suifu Jyu Tamagawa Yoshihisa (水府住玉川美久). If I'm not mistaken, he was a blacksmith from the late Edo period, he was born in the 10th year of Kyoho (1725) and was the son of the first-generation Yoshinori. He founded the Tamaga school in the Mito domain (today’s Ibaraki prefecture), and it flourished during the late Edo period.

 

Tokubetsu Kicho Certified, it was submitted to the NBTHK Tochigi branch and issued on October 30th in the 46th year of the Showa era (1971).

 

Voilà! Comments and appreciation are also welcome. Thanks and a great weekend to everyone!

 

 

[Spartancrest]

Similar designs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art -  91.1.819  and  the Cleveland Museum of Art - 1919.539

 

Metropolitan has theirs as by :

Masayoshi (正義), first name Sadashichi (定七), was an Edo-based artist active at the end of the 18th century who had studied with the Masakata (正方, ?-1774), the third master of the local Bushū-Itō (武州伊藤) School.

[JSA]

Wow. The ressemblance is uncanny! Not the same smith, but same period. Should I be worried that mine is in such great condition compared to those 2?

[Spartancrest]

No I would not worry too much, museum pieces generally don't get a lot of care. There may also be a lot of difference with the lighting of the images. The mokko shape of yours is a nice change.

 

You would really need to worry if it looked like this.    https://www.jauce.com/auction/m437707749

[Spartancrest]

Getting off the topic a bit but you might like this image from the Kyoto National Museum. [sorry the image is grainy]

[JSA]

The 2nd image (silver plated); Is that a casting?

 

The last one is interesting and led me to this: https://ia600208.us.archive.org/10/items/japancatalogue00japarich/japancatalogue00japarich.pdf

 

The pictures are not great, but I think I see it on page 385…

[Curran]

16 hours ago, JSA said:

Wow. The ressemblance is uncanny! Not the same smith, but same period. Should I be worried that mine is in such great condition compared to those 2?

 

No.

The museums should have taken better care of theirs.

Yours is quite lovely. The best of the 3.

[Spartancrest]

Jean-S. Yes the 'silver' one is a modern casting - well when I say modern it could go back to the 1950s  Vintage casting?

Curran is correct yours is the pick of the bunch.

[JSA]

Thanks guys!

 

I know how to take care of my blade, but I’ll need to research on how to make sure this tsuba is staying in good condition.

[Spartancrest]

Jean S. I found this auction piece from back in 24.06.2021, https://www.lempertz.com/en/catalogues/lot/1179-1/708-an-iron-tsuba-edo-period-early-19th-century.html  it has several elements close to your piece.