reference websites for tsuba ID

[LAURENCE]

I am just starting out collecting tsuba and have a few reference books but they are difficult to find and expensive. I find the Boston Museum of Fine Arts website excellent with about 2000 tsuba clearly presented with good photos.

The Inverclyde museum in Scotland has a smaller collection not on display but at least available on the web.

So many museums just keep these treasures hidden away in reserve stock never seen by the general public.

If anyone can tell me of any other collections I can see on the web I would be grateful to hear about it.

[Martin]

Hi Laurence,

 

do you have some links to share?

I only found a Boston MFA page with 50 items displayed ( http://www.mfa.org/collections/search_a ... kage=27268 ) - but about 2000 sounds more interesting... :D

 

cheers

[Henry Wilson]

I like Jim Gilbert's site. It is good for new collectors with nice digestable explanations and good photos.

 

http://home.earthlink.net/~jggilbert/tsuba.htm

 

Also send an email to the NCJSC as they have plans to reprint "Tsuba: An aesthetic study" in the very near future. This book is one of the must haves for beginners and is not easy to get a hold of and the more peole request it the quicker it will become avaiable. Write to Jack Edick at:

 

jack.e@ncjsc.org

[Rich T]

but also the Sakagawa City Museum in Fukushima prefecture. There they hold the collection of Mr Aotsu Yasuju. I was fortunate enough to visit the museum last year and see part of that collection (I am returning to see more this year).

 

They have the collection online here. If you know the basic kanji of tsuba, you can work most of it out.

 

http://www.db.fks.ed.jp/txt/20011.002/html/00003.html

 

There is a left/right arrow at the top right of the page to move through the pages. The images are linked to higher rez pics, just click on them.

 

Also, I have an article with more information about Mr Aotsu and the museum that can be found on Tosogu.com.

 

 

http://tosogu.blogspot.com/2006/11/sukagawa-city-museum-visit_116247490965685063.html#links

 

Cheers

 

Rich