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Happy Year of the Rabbit - rabbit theme tsuba


b.hennick

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Those rabbits are prolific little guys! In answer to the question there is no added rim. The rim is integral and made of iron of the plate folded over in an irregular fashion. It is a nice feature part of the overal appeal of the piece. I realy enjoy mokume tsuba and have a number.

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  • 7 years later...

Hi Guys,

My tsuba collection seems to be a bit sparse on the rabbit front, but here are a for your delectation.

The first one shows an area of open grassland.  Unfortunately the rabbit been scared off, but he has left a small pile of droppings in the lower left hand corner.

The second tsuba shows a monk about to butcher a rabbit in order to make a rabbit stew for his fellow acolytes.  There is a bowl of boiling water in the background with what appears to be a cabbage leaf, so the cooking is evidently well underway.

But seriously,  I have posted this tsuba before (2013).  It depicts the zen monk Tanka (d. 834) burning a carving of Buddha at the Yeren temple.  It is signed/inscribed  Funakoshi Shunmin, with kao (an alternative name for Ikedo Minkoku, 1828 -1916).

Serious question.  The face and arms of Tanka are silver and were bright, due to overcleaning, when I bought it.  These have now tarnished to black.  However the edge of the axe is still bright.  I thought that it was silver, but as it has not tarnished, has anyone got an idea what silver alloy might have been used?

That’s all folks, John

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  • 2 weeks later...

Rainy day in St. Louis, a good day to post a couple more rabbit tsuba. The one with the rabbit looking up at the moon is signed: Kii ju Masayoshi, and mokume grained plate. The other is by shinshinto swordsmith Jirotaro Naokatsu. It is an unusual design rarely seen on his tsuba. It has a long-eared rabbit set into the motif. Ron STL

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