Overlapping circle theme and interesting kozuka hitsu ana

[Deez77]

Hello all,

 

I'm curious if anyone can shed light on:

 

1) what this theme is (I searched family Mon but couldn't find the same).

 

2) what the large cutout on the kozuka hitsu-ana side would be used for (if other than a kozuka). I've seen gunto with a locking mechanism, but I'm not sure if that is what this is.

 

Many thanks

 

Damon S.

 

[Bugyotsuji]

The famous Wakisaka family of Tatsuno used a two-interlocking-rings family crest.

 

Uwe is our resident expert here and has some nice Wakisaka 'bits'. 
 

 

[Deez77]

Very cool image, Piers. Thank you for sharing. Do you think that Mon would still apply to my tsuba motif regardless of the difference in orientation (vertical vs horizontal)?

 

Damon S.

[Bugyotsuji]

7 minutes ago, Deez77 said:

Very cool image, Piers. Thank you for sharing. Do you think that Mon would still apply to my tsuba motif regardless of the difference in orientation (vertical vs horizontal)?

 

Damon S.

Haha, Damon, that's a good question. Possibly structural reasons? I guess when you lay the sword on the tatami it would be in the 'correct' orientation!

Check out:

脇坂家紋 Wakisaka Kamon

[Deez77]

Thanks for the lead, Piers. 🙏

[Kurikata]

Another exemple of overlapping circles tsuba from the haruta myochin school 

[Deez77]

Thanks for sharing, Bruno. Was there a description available for that piece?

 

Damon S.

[Kurikata]

Hi Damon , unfortunatly I bought this tsuba 30 years ago at a french auction without any description other than: "overlapping circles"

[ROKUJURO]

These are often called WACHIGAI TSUBA. One of mine:




....and one found on the internet:
 

[zanilu]

Hi Damon

 

This is from my collection:

 

 

It is papered by NTHK and is described, unsurprisingly, as "Mitsuwa Sukashi zu (openwork of three rings)".

 

Regards

Luca

[Spartancrest]

I found this recently [can't remember where exactly] It is talking about Musashi tsuba but I thought the idea of the "Five Rings" might tie in with this thread. 

Though from the diagram why is ring one and ring five not the same ring? 

[Bugyotsuji]

Here’s one I think I’ve shown before.

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Here's the Heianjo equivalent, although not overlapping:

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Ken,

wouldn't you call that spirals instead of circles?

[Spartancrest]

Hypnotic?  

[Deez77]

Another interesting overlapping circles piece, also signed Echizen Kinai like the original one I posted in this thread.

 

This one had some kind of a polish or something applied (to darken I presume) that I've gently tried to remove. It also has some "scars" in the iron that somehow make me wonder if the piece is authentic and not cast. It's not a feature I can say I've ever seen in Kinai tsuba.

 

Here in it's current state.

 

Here is what it looked like when I got it.

 

Damon

[FlorianB]

Hi Damon,

 

interesting Tsuba. Any measures?
In my eyes the seppa dai looks extraodinary large. Have You tried how a saya-mouth would fit?
I suppose, the particular cutouts are just an adaption to a regular saya.

 

Best,
Florian

[Deez77]

Hi Florian,

 

I've never had the tsuba mounted and don't have any saya on hand to show how it might look mounted.

 

Here are the two side by side for perspective.

Here are the measurements:

Left tsuba

Height 75.4mm

Width 67.6mm

Seppa dai area full 59.8mm

Seppa dai area partial 49mm

 

Right tsuba

Height 75.9mm

Width 76.8mm

Seppa dai area 42.3mm

 

You're right, Florian. The seppa dai area is quite large when compared with the other tsuba of basically the same size.

[Larason2]

Damon, looks to me like the second Echizen Kinai piece was lacquered with urushi. That was a common practice. There's nothing about the tsuba that makes me think it was cast. 

[Spartancrest]

An inlaid Heianjo style guard of the two overlapping circles.

https://www.jauce.com/auction/t1102471041  or  https://buyee.jp/ite...auction/t1102471041/

 

This tsuba is very close to the one posted by Bruno P. Feb. 8 but is not that piece - from the zentner collection  https://zentnercolle...of-tsuba-with-stand/

A hidden Christian motif [a bit of a stretch in my opinion]

[Deez77]

Thank you both for your input. Would you happen to have an idea what those iron "scars" are? I've not seen this on examples from this school before and am not sure how it would happen to begin with. The paper that accompanied the tsuba stated (translated from Japanese):

"This work uses well forged jigane

Two overlapping circles （輪違）are cleverly inserted into the marugata shape

Kitaehada appears in the mimi, signed tsuba

 

[ROKUJURO]

Damon,

as opposed to what the paper states, these are small fire-welding KIZU (flaws) which are the results of less than perfect forging. On the other hand, they prove that your TSUBA is not at all cast.

You are correct that these flaws are not at all common in KINAI TSUBA - at least to my limited knowledge. In my oppinion, they are either a deliberate expression of a personal "easy-going" style, or just a bit sloppily made. But they will not affect the functionality of the TSUBA at all.

[Deez77]

19 hours ago, Larason2 said:

Damon, looks to me like the second Echizen Kinai piece was lacquered with urushi. That was a common practice. There's nothing about the tsuba that makes me think it was cast. 

Thanks Larason, the tsuba had a very strong and unpleasant smell. It made me think of some kind of polish. My thoughts are that the coating is something that someone added in modern times.