Tsuba identification help

[EdWolf]

Hi all,

I really like the design of the tsuba but I have trouble to identify a school. For me there are no recognizable typical features to determine a school. Diameter 70mm, thickness 3mm. Don't know if it is possible to determine. 

Hope you guys can help me.

regards, Ed

[MauroP]

Hi, nice tsuba, one of few I'd assign to Shōami as first choice.

[EdWolf]

Thank you Mauro for your opinion. Interesting, I shall do some further research.

[bond_fan]

On 12/8/2022 at 10:20 AM, MauroP said:

Hi, nice tsuba, one of few I'd assign to Shōami as first choice.

My Tsuba looks very similar to yours, but mine is an alloy like copper or something like that and yours looks like iron. 

 

What book is your Tsuba pictured in?  I thought I saw my Tsuba in a book, but maybe it was your Tsuba in a book?

 

I showed my Tsuba to Robert Haynes and he said he thought it was Northern Shoami...  It came to me via Goran Glucina, who told me it was once in the collection of his Shotokan Karate instructor, Abe Shien.

 

The first image is the truest representation of the color of the Tsuba, as it was taken in sunlight.  Dealers at the San Francisco Token Kai told me to take it in the sunlight and I could see the truest representation of the color, and they weren't wrong.

[MauroP]

Hi Tim, the tsuba shown is neither mine nor from a book. It’s simply an entry in my database, sourced online from a link that is no longer active. The snippet comes from an NBTHK certificate attributing it to Shōami (so I’m not responsible for that attribution…) and reports it's made of iron.

[FlorianB]

I just found this in the second volume of „Hyaku Tsuba“ by chance: Not the same, but a similar design. Only the front is depicted.

The hitsu-ana, however, are thicker than on the piece in question.
The text says „Mumei Echizen“.

 

Maybe it helps.