Brass inlay around edge

[Deez77]

Hello all,

 

Could one of the experts here tell me what this type of brass inlay is called and any additional information (which schools used it, how common, any purpose other than decorative, any meaning to the styling, etc)?

 

Three examples below include: 1) from own collection, 2) from Tsuruoka, and 3) currently available on https://nihontou.jp/choice03/tousougu/tuba/560/00.htm.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

 

Damon

[francois2605]

I'm not an expert but...

 

Probably hira-zōgan, searching "inlay" in Markus Sesko's Encyclopedia of Japanese Swords returns the following definition.

 

Quote

hira-zōgan (平象嵌) – Hira-zōgan describes, as the name implies (hira means “flat”), an inlay which is level with the surface of the ornamented piece. Representative of this technique is Kaga-zōgan (加賀象嵌) of Kaga-based craftsmen and the inlay of the Umetada School. It has to be noted that the zōgan inlay of the former group becomes level by polishing the entire surface, and that the hira-zōgan of the latter artists is not necessarily flat but raises somewhat from the surface. Hira-zōgan was especially applied from the middle Edo period onwards, but it was known since earliest times, like the shinchū-zōgan (真鍮象嵌, brass zōgan) from the end of the Muro- machi period, done by Kyōto artists like Yoshirō (与四郎) and the like.

 

 

Quote

zōgan (象嵌) – Lit. “to inlay (gan/hameru, 嵌める) a shape/figure (zō/katachi, 象).” The latter character can also be written with (眼), but (嵌) is more common. With zōgan, a distinction is drawn between different techniques: suemon-, hira-, and nunome-zōgan, which are described in the following sections. Zōgan was either applied by the kinkō artist himself, or by a specialist craftsman called the zōgan-shi (象嵌師). These zōgan-shi were working independently for the first time during the early Edo period: for example, there was a group of craftsmen working in Kanazawa (金沢) in Kaga province which specialized in applying zōgan to stirrups (abumi, 鐙). The inlay can be done with a variety of techniques. In picture a below, the motif is forced with a hammer into a swallow-tail shaped groove opened on the ground plate. A similar method is shown in picture b, where the motif is bent in advance and forced in the same way into the groove. In picture c, the ground plate is opened with a chisel, leaving some material along the edges. Then the motif is inlayed to this opening, and the projecting edges are flattened with a spatula (hera, 箆) to fix the motif. Large-area motifs are usually inlayed with this technique, as shown in picture d, often used with depictions of the sun or the moon. The term zōgan is also used as a suffix, like in kin-zōgan (金象嵌) or gin-zōgan (銀象嵌), which describes gold or silver inlay respectively.

 

[Kurikata]

Hi Damon,

 

a lot of Heianjo tsuba as yours show such inlays around the plate . An other exemple herewith.

[MauroP]

Hi Damon, as Bruno said shinchū-zōgan (brass inlay) is the hallmark of Heianjō-zōgan style (though the same style overlaps to some extent to Ōnin and Yoshirō traditions). In Heianjō tsuba the inlays can be either flat or protruding.
The pattern on the border of your tsuba is a stylized representation of snow.

[Deez77]

Sincere thanks to you all for giving me some specific terms to search for when looking for similarly style tsuba. Given that at least two of the three samples I shared are from the Echizen Kinai school, do you think the inlays were added later, and perhaps in a different region? Or could that be original to the work?

 

Damon

[MauroP]

My fault, Damon, I missed to see two tsuba were signed. Actually suemon-zōgan are unusual in Echizen Kinai tsuba (much more common golden karakusa pattern in nunome-zōgan or, less commonly, scattered dot inlays). That's why I assumed the tsuba could be placed in the Heianjō-zōgan style.