Tsuba theme question

[hybridfiat]

I found this on http://js-samurai-art.com/SHOP/10128.html and wondered if Goldilocks and the 3 bears had made it to Japan :lol:

This looks like Papa bear spitting the dummy over whose been sitting in his chair

[watsonmil]

Hmm, ... it also resembles my wife when I told her I was thinking about a Tanto I'd kind of like. ... Ron Watson

[John A Stuart]

It looks like Mister Rat (Nezumi san) with a Drum (Tei no taiko). 締め太鼓鼠さん :lol: John

[Stephen]

Steve, what do you guys put in you pipe downunder? sure dont see a Bear,

John looks like Rat to me too, but with a water bucket? ready to wash the road?

[doug e lewis]

Yes, it is a rat with a ?drum? [nice tsuba, IMHO as a novice collector]

 

from wikipedia:

 

"Nezumi were one of the other races that walked Ningen-do after the Naga entered their slumber and before the fall of the Kami. The Nezumi had a vast empire, conquering the kingdom of the Ogres and occupying most of the area currently taken by the Shadowlands. Most of the Nezumi civilization was destroyed when Fu Leng fell from Tengoku."

 

 

this fellow with the drum was obviously a character in the mythology. there was a person, a thief, in the 19th century [also great story], but i think this is one of the mythical Nezumi.

 

look it up and follow all the blue highlighted words, the stories are great -- founding of clans, fall of Kami, saving of Yoritomo after his death in 1128 - the saving happens in 1170! remnants of Nezumi are said to still exist in a world next to ours, which can be accessed in dreams, and which Emperors, being devine, can see at will. just great stuff. magic swords, hero rats ...... much taking placce before the Rise of Man, some in Classical times, but some seem to be going on right now!

 

now back to reading the Kojiki, which i just received.

 

doug e.

[george trotter]

I'm inclined to agree with Stephen and John, I think it is Nezumi san too...stepping out of the house to throw some water from a bucket...to keep the dust down on the road?

Regards,

George.

[Nobody]

I found this on http://js-samurai-art.com/SHOP/10128.html and wondered if Goldilocks and the 3 bears had made it to Japan

The answer is already given on the referred page.

防火鼠図 – a picture of a mouse preventing a fire

 

I guess that the mouse raked up fallen leaves and made a bonfire, and then poured water out of a wood bucket for fire prevention. There is a broom on the other side of the tsuba.

[doug e lewis]

thank you Moriyama san,

 

wish that site had english translations of their descriptions, or that i could read kanji yet [study is on-going]

 

two questions, if i may: what does the kanji on the tsuba say -- story of mouse & fire?

 

and, is there a folk tale, or legend that this refers to, or is it just a whimsey of the maker.

 

yours gratefully,

 

doug e

[Mark Green]

I found this one to be very cool as well. Japan's provences? I guess?

[John A Stuart]

Hi Doug, Here is what written on the tsuba.

保則 Yasunori and Kao

 

寛政 Kansei (era)

四 1792

 

The kanji that stands alone could be 土 or 士, not sure of the meaning.

 

 

子 Ne Rat

正 Sho First

月 Gatsu Month

子 Ne Rat

日Jitsu Day

Maybe Koichi san or Kiyoshi san can explain why the month and day are written using the zodiac and how it should be read. John

[John A Stuart]

Hi Mark, Your tsuba is an actual map of Japan. John

[hybridfiat]

Excellent. Thank you for the lesson in Japanese folklore.

I agree it does look like a bucket of water.

Hell of a big rat though! Never mind what we smoke down here, what were the Japanese on?

[John A Stuart]

Hi Steve, When you compare the rat/mouse to the baseboard in the picture carved on the tsuba it seems lifesize in the mouse/rat world. John

[Nobody]

The description for the date is as follows;

寛政二二壬子正月子日 (Kansei 4 Mizunoe-Ne, Sho-gatsu, Ne no hi) – 6th (or 18th?) in the first month of the 4th year of Kansei era

 

I guess that a day of Rat of Rat’s year was linked to the Rat motif on the tsuba. I do not think that the motif is connected to a specific folklore. It only gives a lesson for fire prevention.

[John A Stuart]

Thank you. John

[hybridfiat]

Thank you all

[doug e lewis]

this is being posted after the thread seemed closed, but while reading my just received 1882 translation by Basil Hall Chamberlain of the Kojiki [Records of Ancient Matters] i ran into a story i think is the origin of nezumi [mouse; rat] stories, and the reason for the zesumi on your tsuba putting out a fire..

 

from Vol.I, sect. XXIII ... "... when he [Deity Great-Name-Possessor, Oho-na-muji-no-kami one of several names for Deity Master-of-the-Great-Land, Oho-kuni-nushi-no-kami] had entered the moor, [impetuous-Male-Deity, Susa-no-wo at once set fire to the moor all around. .... knowing no place of exit, a mouse came and said; " The inside is hollow-hollow, the outside is narrow-narrow". Owing to its speaking thus, he [Deity Great-Name-Possessor] he trod on the place, whereupon he fell in and hid himself, during which time the fire burnt past."

 

must be lots of stories built around this brave mouse.

 

doug e