Higo Yatsuhashi NBTHK to Hayashi

[pcfarrar]

Excellent Iron Sukashi Tsuba with an old NBTHK Tokubetsu Kicho paper to Hayashi.

 

Design is Yatsuhashi (irises and bridge). 

 

The style is distinctly that of the famous eight plank bridge in the Tales of Ise.

 

In the story, the hero, Narihira, was exiled from Kyoto. While wandering in the eastern part of Japan, he came upon an eight-planked bridge over a marsh where irises were growing. Narihira composed a poem, longing for his loved one left behind in the capital. Each line beginning with one syllable of the Japanese word for iris (kakitsubata). The bridge and irises are often depicted in Japanese art as reference to the story. There is also a Noh play about Narihira's poem.

 

I have a beloved wife,
Familiar as the skirt
Of a well-worn robe,
And so this distant journeying
Fills my heart with grief.

 

The previous owner believed this tsuba was actually the work of the 5th Shimizu Jingo master Shigenaga who worked in the late 18th to early 19th century. This was due to the shape of the tsuba, the nakago ana, and the gentle slope from seppa dai to mimi. Yatsuhashi was a favourite design of Shigenaga.

 

7.75cm x 7.25cm x 0.5cm > 0.4cm at the mimi

 

$500

 

 

 

[pcfarrar]

If anyone wants my last 2 Higo tsuba, then I'll do both together for a special price of $700.

[pcfarrar]

Discount to $350

Edited 42 minutes ago by pcfarrar