Large inome tsuba - looking for more info

[Jesta]

I recently picked this one up on Jauce, with very little information. I liked it for being unusual, but that also means there aren’t that many out there to compare it to… 

Thanks to a previous post by SpartanCrest I have found this at the Met: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/34912 but there is no info on the tsuba. 

This site: https://tsubashi.com/product/nobuie-boars-eye/ has something very similar, and notes that it might be “Nobuie School”. 

 

Does anyone have an opinion on whether it would be Nobuie School or from some other origin? 

 

Iron, with dimensions of 7.8cm x 7.8cm.

 

Edit: I also found this one: https://japanesesword.com/archived-pages/2017/9/22/shoami-tsuba That refers to the design just as shoami.

[ROKUJURO]

Not so unusual in my opinion. I think I saw it on HIGO TSUBA, and on TEIMEI (inverted INOME) as well:



The surface on yours as well as the SHOAMI sample is not original to these TSUBA I think. There was a lot of corrosion eating away material.

I am no expert on NOBUIE, but I don't see this design as typical for that school. 

 

[Spartancrest]

One very similar in the Metropolitan Museum of Art  https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/34912  it is decorated in "Kaneiye" [Kaneie]  style with an indistinct signature.

 Inscribed on the obverse: 山城國伏見住金家 Yamashiro no Kuni Fushimi-jū Kaneie (Kaneie, resident of Fushimi in Yamashiro province)

       You might need to look also at Saotome? As well as shoami - https://yakiba.com/tsuba-saotome/

 

 Justyn I agree with Jean - I don't see it as Nobuie. - but the design looks like it was used by a lot of schools - - so who knows?

 

 This one    https://tsubashi.com/product/nobuie-boars-eye/    States the signature is "Nobuie" however the text description states several times that it may not be by Nobuie.

 

"Much confusion and contradicting information about Nobuie, even among high-end collectors. Impossible to say whether this is 1 st generation, 2nd generation, student, forgery, or part of a school of smiths that all signed “Nobuie”. I think many people claiming they have a 1st or 2nd generation Nobuie tsuba, really do not know what they are talking about. Even with papers, one cannot be sure, as the consensus about Nobuie changes from generation to generation. My guess for this tsuba is that it is neither 1 st nor 2nd generation, but possibly would be accepted as “Nobuie” school."

[Jesta]

Thank you both. Does the Saotome design you show have inome? Is that design a very stylised version? 

 

I can see that the one Jean shows is similar, but I can’t find many with the very large inome with rounded (rather than pointed) shapes. I would also guess that mine doesn’t have hitsu-ana since the inome don’t extend to the seppadai like the one in the Met. 

[Spartancrest]

     I just thought the large hitsu/riohitsu are a major design feature, exactly what they may represent can be difficult to work out.

 

    I found this one in one of my Japanese books  "TSUBA KANSHOKI" - page 96 - the design says "Bag", sukashi.  Koshoami .

[Jesta]

2 hours ago, Spartancrest said:

   I just thought the large hitsu/riohitsu are a major design feature, exactly what they may represent can be difficult to work out.

 

I found this one in one of my Japanese books  "TSUBA KANSHOKI" - page 96 - the design says "Bag", sukashi.  Koshoami .

Thanks, as always… 

 

The way the hitsu are presented makes it hard to know if they were meant to be the same thing or something very different. I was just getting used to seeing how the three in this post could be inome, and then you throw “bag” into the mix . Now I am just confused… 

 

I suppose that the ones on mine could also be beans… 

 

What do you think about giving it a “koshoami” or “shoami” school origin? 

[Spartancrest]

Very likely Ko-shoami  [Ko just means "early"] the texture of your piece would certainly give the impression of an early or old piece. I just found this one as well https://japanesesword.com/archived-pages/2017/9/22/shoami-tsuba

    Just described as Shoami - but it looks ancient to me!  It is very close to yours in size. Hey they never made just one!

[thutson]

I have a brass-inlaid Heianjo tsuba with very similar shaped hitsu.

[FlorianB]

I own a modest Tsuba with Tanabata festival motif. It depicts several papers with inscriptions hung in bamboo trees. 
Note the shape of the one upper right (upper left on the ura). I wonder if such paper (used for what? Uchiwa fans?) is the origin of the sukashi in question.

 

[Jesta]

3 hours ago, FlorianB said:

I own a modest Tsuba with Tanabata festival motif. It depicts several papers with inscriptions hung in bamboo trees. 
Note the shape of the one upper right (upper left on the ura). I wonder if such paper (used for what? Uchiwa fans?) is the origin of the sukashi in question.

That's a very interesting comparison. It definitely looks very similar, particularly because of the rounded, rather than pointed, side. 

[Spartancrest]

Florian could be on to something here. There is a similar tsuba in the Metropolitan Museum https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/32182

 

 With fat heart shaped "fans"?

 

This from another tsuba found on-line - not sure if it is a fan or some sort of commemoration plaque?   

 

Then there is this    where the whole tsuba is that shape.     https://www.mokumeganeya.com/e/mokumeganetour/2019/08/28/find-mokume-gane-chapter-20/