I need your help.

[Itomagoi]

I would be happy if someone could help me with the mei of these two tsuba.

 

Tsuba 1: 78,0 x 75,0 x4,5 mm

Scene: The mythical creature on the right is Sojobo, the king of the Tengu. He hands Yoshitsune a scroll. Which may contain secrets of military strategy, representing the completion of his training in the martial arts by the Tengu of Mount Kurama. Yoshitsune is a warrior of the late Heian period, son and half-brother of powerful warriors.

[Itomagoi]

Tsuba 2: 65,3 x 62,5 x 4,3 mm

Scene: unfortunately I do not know.

[uwe]

First seems to be “濱埜味墨” + kao (Hamano Miboku)…

Second could be “味𡌛好随” + kao (Hamano ??). Not sure about the name. Last kanji can be read as “yuki”…maybe Yoshiyuki?

[Volker62]

amazing Tengu Peter

 

first pic looks like Karasu Tenngu ( crow Tengu) perhaps you'll look this story ??

 

 

[Itomagoi]

Thank you, Uwe. Is Otsuryūken (乙柳軒) on the other side of tengu tsuba correkt?

 

Yes, Volker. It is a Karasu Tengu. A lovely Tsuba.

[Itomagoi]

I think the Tengu Tsuba is made by Masanobu founder of the Ooka branch.

 

Unfortunately, I can't find a match for the other tsuba.

[Bugyotsuji]

The legend of the second could well be Choryo receiving the famed scroll from Koseki-Ko. The bridge would be rusu-moyo, meaning no need to illustrate the horse, the shoe etc.

[Itomagoi]

Thank you, Piers. That's cool. 

[SteveM]

11 hours ago, Itomagoi said:

Masanobu founder of the Ooka branch

 

I think the founder of the Ōoka branch is a different Masanobu than the one you are showing in your picture of Jan 3rd.

Founder of the Ōoka branch is 政信 (Masanobu).

The one in your Jan 3 picture is 誠信 (Masanobu), who is the adoptive father of the Masanobu who uses the 政信 characters. 

 

Confusing due to the same pronunciation of differing kanji, but also confusing because so many of the Hamano artists, including these two, use the Miboku and Otsuryūken pseudonyms. 

[Itomagoi]

Steve, you are right. I didn't look it up correctly.

 

Do you have any ideas about the maker of the second tsuba? 

[SteveM]

I was looking at it and it has me stumped. I'm sure Uwe has the correct pronunciation: Yoshiyuki. However, this maker doesn't appear in Wakayama's index. I suspect he may be a student of, or somehow related to, Hamano Masayoshi (浜野政好) because of the use of the 好 (yoshi) character. Wakayama says that Hamano Masayoshi was famous for depicting characters from the Three Kingdoms saga, as well as hermits/sages, which seems to agree with the figures in your second tsuba.

 

As you may know, apprentices often adopted (or were granted) the use of one of the characters of the name used by their teachers/masters. Or sometimes they just took over their master's name outright. I'm just guessing here, but the use of both 好 and 随 makes me think this smith was someone from the line of Hamano artists that incorporated the 随 character into their names, and that the 好 character was also passed down from a teacher. 

 

[Itomagoi]

This are valuable informations. Thank you for your effort and time, Steve. I appreciate it.