Umetada Shigeyoshi tsuba

[Japan2112]

Hello all,

I picked up this tsuba while at the Chicago Show last weekend. Can someone help me with the naming and meaning of the two nunome zogan characters on the omote?

I think that this is the Shichizaemon Tachibana Shigeyoshi working in Kyoto around Kanban (by the character 埋 "ume") and not the one working later (around Genroku) in Edo. Can I obtain an opinion here as well? (Color is true in the full omote pic).

83 mm h x 82 mm w x 6 mm t (at rim) 206 grams

 

Thanks for looking and for any assistance.

 

Mark

[Toryu2020]

Count me jealous! I very nice find. I think it says 桐華 "Paulownia flower" you'll want to see if there is a good seal script dictionary online to say for sure...

-t

[Curran]

Wow. Nice one.

 

I sincerely wanted to make Chicago this year. At a show there will always be 1 or 2 that I buy. It has been so long.

Work got immensely in the way.

 

 

[Japan2112]

Thanks Thomas and Curran. I don't know much about Umetada tsuba, but this one is so strong that it drew me in. The Chicago show was a delight. I hadn't been for four years or so and glad that I made time for it. 

Best Regards,

Mark

[Toryu2020]

Tsuneishi says that the eldest son of Myoju was "Hikojiro" - I think you may be looking at a later generation. I would look for some sword signatures for comparison...

[kyushukairu]

In The Japanese tōsō-kinkō Schools, Markus Sesko claims there were several artists who used this mei, and that Japanese sources differ on whether there were three or four different artists (2012: 93-94).

According to Fukushi Shigeo, there were four Shigeyoshi:
1. The first Myōshin Shigeyoshi (明真重義),
2. Umetada Shichizaemon Tachibana Shigeyoshi (埋忠七左衛門橘重義),
3. the 2nd gen. with the same name but a different signature,
4. Shigeyoshi who signed with the supplement „Akashi-jū“ (明石住), i.e. „resident of Akashi“ in Harima province.

 

Tōsō-kodōgu-kōza“ states there were three:
1. Hikojirō Shigeyoshi (彦次郎重義) who was active around Kanei in Kyōto 
2. a Kanbun-era Shichizaemon Shigeyoshi also from Kyōto 
3. and a Shichizaemon Shigeyoshi who worked around Genroku (1688-1704) in Edo.
 

[Toryu2020]

Looks like a good match on the upper right...

[Japan2112]

Thomas and Kyle,

Thank you for your further research and assistance. It seems that the mei at the upper right may be a good match indeed. From further research the tsuba may be one from the Umetada Kyoto artists group, by its kanji "Ume"(埋)and that the Chinese script of  kiri/to and hana/ka read together as toka spelling out "Paulownia Blossom" is also something I understand that was sometimes done in Kyoto. The Kano school style of landscape on the ura also supports a Kyoto attribution. 

 

Maybe Myoju's younger son (i.e. #2 in Fukushi Shigeo's line up that Kyle contributed) or at least his lineage - early Edo? (Kanbun or Enpo 1661-1681). Anyways, I am enjoying this tsuba even more with a better handle on the maker's possibilities.

 

Best Regards,

 

Mark

 

 

[Curran]

Nicely done Kyle.

I learned a bit from that. I've several times encountered noteworthy Umetada Shigeyoshi tsuba and filed it away to eventually explore the name some day.

I figured there were at least 2 or 3, but didn't know there were that many.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

Just wondering if the words 桐華 ‘paulownia flower’ might not refer obliquely to allegiance to the Hideyoshi lineage at a time when Tokugawa had become flavor of the month. (Avoiding portrayal of the now ‘hated’ Hideyoshi paulownia Mon.)

[Toryu2020]

I'd say that is a bit of a stretch since many families, including branches of the Matsudaira continued to use the mon long after Hideyoshi was gone...