Tsuba identification help needed please

[TsubaSteve]

Hi, i purchased this decades ago and have since lost the information about it on a computer hard drive. Any information would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance

Steve

 

[Dan tsuba]

Hello Tsuba Steve!

 

First I would like to welcome you to this great forum!  As far as your tsuba is concerned, I can't tell you much about it.  There are other members on the forum that will tell you exactly what you want to know.  I can tell you that I like the motif on the tsuba.  Also the mei (signature) on the tsuba looks (to me) like it could be an original signature (but of course, I could be wrong!).  If you want the signature translated you can always post the tsuba on the "translation assistance" page of this forum.

 

Anyway, I hope that your tsuba turns out to be all that you expect it to be!

 

With respect,

Dan

 

 

 

[TsubaSteve]

Hi Dan, thanks for the welcome and information. I will post the Mei on the translation assistance forum. The only thing i can remember about the writing was being told that it was not a signature but a poem about martial arts (which made no sense to me at all).

best regards

steve

[OceanoNox]

It looks like:

南紀 (Nanki) on the right

木(?)鐵齋造 on the left. It looks like 一 and い between 木 and 鐵, but I do not know what it could be.

Since 造 means "made", it ought to be the name of the person or workshop that produced it.

[Larason2]

I agree it's a tricky one. I tried to look it up in Wada Tsunashiro's book, but I didn't find any matches there. It's a really nice piece though, and I agree the signature looks legitimate. The style looks to me to be late Edo, but it might be a piece made by a modern tosogu in that style. 

[RobertM]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/364284497654?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=MM06xI-_Rb2&sssrc=2349624&ssuid=Yle_jI9KR2m&var=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

[SteveM]

木下鉄齊造　　Made by Kinoshita Tessai

 

Edit: Piers beat me to it on another thread.

[Brian]

Thanks for putting us out of our misery Steve.

Could it be the same person as:

 

[TsubaSteve]

Hi, thanks for all the information so far. Truly amazed and grateful. 

[TsubaSteve]

RobertM thats my listing on eBay thanks for posting. Wasn’t sure if they would be allowed. Im hoping to add information to that at some point.

best regards

steve

[SteveM]

18 minutes ago, Brian said:

Could it be the same person as:

 

Yes, that's the guy. 

[Larason2]

Interesting. Tsuba from Kyoto and Osaka commonly start with the 木 character (means "wood"). 

 

Would this tosogu have been in the workshop of Tomioka Tessai (the characters for "tessai" can be the same for both)? That was the pseudonym for a famous Edo painter. His real name was Tomioka Yusuke, and he was also from Kyoto. To my knowledge though, Tomioka didn't make any tsuba. He was a prolific art teacher with many students though.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomioka_Tessai

[GRC]

If it is a painter's name, then it's possible that the tsubako was re-creating one of the painter's works and credited "Tessai" by putting his name on the tsuba.

I recently posted some info about the Jakushi school (totally unrelated to this tsuba) who did that (at least once) with their "bamboo blown in the wind" themed tsuba. So, it shows that "citing a painter's work" has been done before on tsuba.

Just food for thought...

[SteveM]

Tessai the tsuba-maker died before Tessai the painter was born, so I think the naming is just a coincidence.

[GRC]

well that settles that then  

Thanks Steve.