Soshin Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 Hi Everyone, I will be attending the NTHK shinsa next month in Florida and have one slot reserved and was in the process of going through my collection of non-papered tsuba to decide which one I should submit. The first tsuba I was thinking about submitting is the following. I think it is a late generation (3rd or later) Hoan school tsuba circa the early Edo Period that is unsigned. The craftsmanship is remarkable with gold inlays and artistic design of the tsuba is wonderful. The expression on Daurma face is artistically done very well. The Kanji floating in the air reminds me of a Koan often used as a tool in Zen meditation. Can't completely translate the Kanji so the theory that the Kanji forms a Koan is unconfirmed. I was hoping to get help with that also at the shinsa. The measurements of the tsuba is 7.0 ✕ 6.5 cm ✕ 0.40 cm at rim. The second tsuba is a Tosho tsuba that I recently purchased over the holidays on NMB. It has things about it that make me think it could even be pre-Edo Period. It also has a fair number of things that remind me of the Ko-Tosho tsuba in Sasano Sensei collection. Examples include a number of folds are visible on the surface along with hammer marks (tsuchimeji 槌目地) as well as the overall size and thinness of the plate. I am interested in how the NTHK would date the tsuba from a educational perspective. It measures 8.4 cm round with a thickness at the rim of 0.25 cm. I think the ko-sukashi design is referred to as nihon-hikiryo (二本引き竜) in Japanese and can be translated as "two dragon leashes". I will be bring both tsuba for discussion at the Florida show. Yours truly, David Stiles Quote
Curran Posted January 13, 2012 Report Posted January 13, 2012 Definitely submit the Daruma. The iron rendering of yours reminds me of a set of papered iron Daruma menuki I had and were purchased away years ago. Had a great call to a small but desirable school. You might get a more interesting/educational call on the Daruma tsuba than the other. Or you might have lacklustre results and they go "Shoami". It is a more interesting gamble than the other one. The other one we can probably figure out in person, unless you really want papers on it. I also tend to think the NTHK is very conservative on their dating of items at shinsa outside Japan, though the fittings team has impressed me a bit at the last NY/NJ shinsa. Depending on when your shinsa slot is.... ask the opinion of some of the people in the main show room before you must surrender a tsuba at the shinsa front desk. Quote
Soshin Posted January 13, 2012 Author Report Posted January 13, 2012 Hi Curran, My reserved shinsa slot is 10:00 AM on Sunday, Feb. 12. I will bring both tsuba to the show to let people see. I am also looking forward to the question and answer session after the shinsa where we can discuss the results with the shinsa team. Here is some photographs of the Daruma tsuba on both sides. I also like how the bamboo and clouds are rendered on the ura side. Being a fan of Shoami I don't really see anything that would make me think this Shoami with this tsuba. Often designs on Shoami tsuba start on the Omote side and continued on to the ura side or are directly related to the design on the omote side. My tsuba the designs on the omote and ura sides are very different. All of the designs with exception of the gold inlays were produced by acid treatment which is characteristic of the Hoan school but the blackness of the iron's patina make me think Owari as the site of production. Inlay of gold and silver were common is the work of the Hoan school from the 3rd generation master onward. Yours truly, David Stiles Quote
CurtisR Posted January 14, 2012 Report Posted January 14, 2012 Beautiful - both. I also think the Daruma, although I admit it is only from a (very) novice perspective. I am looking forward to seeing how the Shinsa procedure/process is done, in general, but will be very interested to see how this one ends up doing if you choose it. Best Regards, Curtis Quote
Soshin Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Posted January 14, 2012 Hi Curtis, Thanks for the kind words. In the afternoon Winter sun today I was able to take this photograph of the Tosho tsuba. The dark purplish-black color of the patina with a hint of deep brown from the little bits of rust is very close to how the tsuba looks in hand under good natural light. Yours truly, David Stiles Quote
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