Iron tsuba with Tetsujin mei

[Nazar]

Here is my second tsuba. Couple of days ago three tsuba popped up on a local internet auction.  And again, one of them caught my eye mostly immediately. Its simple elegance stole my heart, and something that looked like mei caught my mind. So I bought it. It arrived very quickly and indeed it had mei. Due to that double cut-out it was quite simple to narrow style and mei to Tetsunin/Tetsujin. Actually, this very board has several topics on the Tetsujin tsuba:

 

www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/12900-tsuba-mei/

 

www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26575-tetsunin/

 

www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/26665-tsuba-etc/

 

www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/48180-what-does-artificial-patina-look-like/

 

On 9/8/2018 at 5:09 PM, lotus said:

Found this thread while researching a Tsuba I just won on auction. A nice little Tosho Tsuba signed "Tetsujin". I found some more info thanks to the previous posters in this thread.

 

There is mention of him and his family in the following book :

 

Classical Weaponry of Japan: Special Weapons and Tactics of the Martial Arts

By Serge Mol

 

His family were not only skilled martial artists but also iron craftsman, producing swords, swordguards and son. It appears that Aoki "Tetsujin" Kanesada and his brother both signed there work "Tetsujin". It goes on to say they posessed metal-working skill of the highest order and that objects made by them were of exceptional quality.

 

The Aoki family also continued the line of Enmei Ryu (a style of martial arts) which was also known as Enmei Jitte Ryu, Tetsujin Jitte Ryu, Tetsujin Nito Ryu, and Tetsujin Jitte Ryu. And by the way, Enmei Ryu was the style originally studied by Myamoto Musashi, the style founded by his grandfather.

 

Also, we have a date of 1643 as to when Aoki "Tetsujin" Kanesada wrote some illustrated manuscripts. So, we have a good date for when these may have been made. Interesting stuff.

 

 

 

Edited June 22 by Nazar

[Nazar]

 

To my eye the tsuba that I bought and its mei (鉄仁) look legitim. Here is a closer look at mei.

 

 

My 3D printed stand seems to be working OK for this 80mm tsuba. 

 

 

However, I couldn't figure out what that cut-outs stand for? Are they flowers or butterflies? 

Edited June 22 by Nazar

[ROKUJURO]

The design might be frayed KASA (= traditional rain-hat), or WAGASA (和傘) (= umbrella). Not unusual.

Another TETSUNIN TSUBA:

[Nazar]

Thank you Jean!

 

Yes, Kasa or Wagasa seems to be the case. Yet, even as motive is common, that tattered contour makes this particular design quite curious. 

[kissakai]

This is mine

 

Balances

 

[Nazar]

The longer I look at this tsuba the more I like it. Maybe I'm that simple person. 

 

And funny enough. Tried to trace this tsuba back and with some luck managed to find an original Yahoo auction listing. As I mentioned, there were three tsuba. Turned out they all were in the very same Yahoo listing. Here they are:

 

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m1229784536

 

[Marcin]

45 minutes ago, Nazar said:

The longer I look at this tsuba the more I like it. Maybe I'm that simple person. 

 

And funny enough. Tried to trace this tsuba back and with some luck managed to find an original Yahoo auction listing. As I mentioned, there were three tsuba. Turned out they all were in the very same Yahoo listing. Here they are:

 

https://auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/m1229784536

 

If tsuba were still in boxes You get these for box price.

[Nazar]

I bought my tsuba from a local seller for EUR 67 (buy it now). It came in a box with green lining (without an upper cushion). Mostly immediately someone else bought the tsuba in a box with blue/purple lining for a very same price. The tsuba in a box with red lining is still for sale with a price around EUR 53 if there would be no bidding (or price "buy now" of EUR 63). So yes, that local seller made some profit. Yet, I am satisfied with what I got. 

[ROKUJURO]

The remaining TSUBA is not bad as well and might be the oldest of the set. Prices are ridiculously low. Congratulations!

I would not have bought the TSUBA with the blue cushion.

[Nazar]

8 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

The remaining TSUBA is not bad as well and might be the oldest of the set. Prices are ridiculously low. Congratulations!

I would not have bought the TSUBA with the blue cushion.

 

I'll try to get that remaining tsuba. I kind of like it too but I am waiting for the bidding to end. 

 

As for the tsuba with blue cushion, I entirely missed its design concept. Also it looks to be coated in something. 

 

[ROKUJURO]

The "coated" TSUBA might be a reproduction, but one photo is not enough for a guess.

The other one looks like a TSUBA in later TÔSHÔ style, but again, a better assessment needs more good images.

[Bugyotsuji]

Been doing a little digging around as I have a nice tsuba with a wet black appearance. A friend looked at it and immediately put it down. "Ibota," he muttered.

"How can I remove it?", I asked.

 

It seems that over the years there are some people who continue to apply this 'Chinese wax', or 'Japanese wax' to protect tsuba etc. from rust. Exuded by insects on the leaves and branches of Ibota no Ki, Ligustrum Obtusifolium. Also known as Chuhaku-ro (虫白蠟 Insect white wax, 雪蠟snow wax), イボタ蠟Ibota-ro.

[ROKUJURO]

Hi Piers,

what did your friend say about removing IBOTA?

[Bugyotsuji]

Dang Jean, I did not want to answer that here... grrr...

 

Over the phone:

I asked him if it was easy to remove, and after a moment's thought he said "Yes."

 

He said to use 'a sanding eraser', but without actually seeing him doing that I would not like to encourage anyone here to try any such procedure. I suggested to him hopefully that such work should be done gently (yes/no?), and he agreed, saying that one should be careful not to expose the iron/steel surface of the tsuba. Well, that sounded pretty obvious, if not exactly easy to perform smoothly.

 

The above answer will self-destruct in five minutes. 

[ROKUJURO]

I hope it will not detonate! 

Anyway, thank you!

IBOTA may not be like Kryptonite, so there will always be mechanical and chemical methods to remove it. 

[Nazar]

So, I won that tsuba with a red cushion. Only one person made a minimal bid, so my  final bid was like EUR 54. Will post photos of tsuba here as soon as it arrives. 

 

As for the photos of that coated tsuba with blue cushion, I saved a couple of photos from a local auction to analyze it later. The photos are of low quality, but I believe the coating is clearly visible. Here they are: 

 

 

 

[GRC]

That last one with the ship's rudder and shells that looks "coated" may actually be heavily coated with something... but if you get lucky, there could be a decent surface underneath it.

 

That other Tosho style one with the stylized snowflake has some really nice subtle mokume ("woodgrain") lines showing the folded layers of the plate.

That was a nice lot to pick up at that price, congrats 

 

[ROKUJURO]

5 hours ago, Nazar said:

.....photos of that coated tsuba with blue cushion....

Hi Nazar,

with these better photos, I think this TSUBA is authentic as well. On the first photo, I was puzzled by the reduced SEPPA-DAI and the glossy surface, but now I think this may be interesting as well, considering the really low prices! Do you have the dimensions?

Glen has identified the design as rudder which looks correct to me.

[Nazar]

12 hours ago, GRC said:

That last one with the ship's rudder and shells that looks "coated" may actually be heavily coated with something... but if you get lucky, there could be a decent surface underneath it.

 

That other Tosho style one with the stylized snowflake has some really nice subtle mokume ("woodgrain") lines showing the folded layers of the plate.

That was a nice lot to pick up at that price, congrats 

 

 

Glen, thank you for your answer and clarification of that pattern! I was curious about it. I have to confess that the sarcastic part of me called it "shamisen and cats" because  two of those shells seem to have ears:-) 

 

Yes, I noticed those lines but was kind of cautiously optimistic and therefore was waiting till I got it in my hands. At the moment the tsuba is on its way to me. And again, thank you for clarifying the pattern!

 

Maybe I had to buy that rudder and shell tsuba too, however, I am happy with what I have. As the song says, two out of three ain't bad. Also I was very cautious about all these tsuba because the seller who put them for sale was earlier noticed selling well, tsuba like objects...

[Nazar]

8 hours ago, ROKUJURO said:

Hi Nazar,

with these better photos, I think this TSUBA is authentic as well. On the first photo, I was puzzled by the reduced SEPPA-DAI and the glossy surface, but now I think this may be interesting as well, considering the really low prices! Do you have the dimensions?

Glen has identified the design as rudder which looks correct to me.

 

Hi Jean, 

 

The seller stated dimensions as 76х78х5mm and 180gr of weight.  

 

Alas, as I mentioned, another person bought that tsuba. According to the listing, it happened like 10 minutes after I bought Tetsujin tsuba. 

[ROKUJURO]

Nazar,

that is o.k. I think, as you have two TSUBA to start with and study. A low price alone is not always a good argument for a purchase.

As you train your eyes and learn, other interesting TSUBA will come up!

[Nazar]

Tsuba arrived. It's quite massive and heavy. I have no scales at hand to weigh it, but dimensions are as follows: 79x76.5x6mm. What else could I say? It's beautiful. 

 

 

 

 

[Nazar]

Some additional photos. 

 

 

 

[ROKUJURO]

Yes, it is really nice! A very solid, perhaps early EDO TSUBA in my opinion. You might call it a MOKUME TSUBA, but I don't think it was intended to be one.

The SUKASHI looks more like KUMO (= cloud) than snowflake to me.

[Nazar]

Thank you, Jean!

[FlorianB]

Yes, indeed a nice piece!
I suppose the mokume-structure has been enhanced by etching. Not unusual.
Not clear to see, but I presume the mokume structures continue onto the rim as well?

[Nazar]

Thank you Florian!

 

It's kinda hard to catch in photos. Did my best though.