ko – Tsuba Kansho

Stamped Ko-Kinko Tsuba

January 17, 2020 tsubakansho3 Comments

Continuing on from the last post with a complex early yamagane tsuba featuring stamped decorations, here are three examples with the more typical single plate construction. The first is a small guard with many kokuin.

The decoration includes kiri, kiku and hishi mon along with “star” or “snow flake” shaped stamps on a polished ground. Many are incompletely punched or partially erased. Despite the profuse decoration the effect is fairly subdued.

My guess is that the original surface was not entirely lacquered but was left in the low spots for contrast. This type of work is also seen in the late Edo period.

This guard has a hako gaki by Sasano-sensei attributing it to Ko-kinko. The inside of the box is below for those interested.

The next guard is much larger and in addition to stamps has colored metal inlay and overlay. The ground also has a tooled texture. While there is also urushi, the overall impression is anything but subdued.

Again there are kiku and kirimon with hanabishi and other flowers. Rather than the often seen description of “mon chirashi,” the kanteisho accompanying this guard describes the motif as bukan chirashi meaning something like scattered heraldry. The sukashi motif is not described, but is often identified as a shishi or sometimes as rising smoke.

This decoration is most similar to the first guard. The plate is stamped and lacquer is applied and remains in the low spots. Here the kiku has a thin gold highlight added.

Here a similar kiku plus a sakura blossom with added gold. The flower at the right is inlaid and carved brass with a gold overlay.

Another is inlaid in a dark silver-colored alloy.

The hanabishi is also in inlaid and carved brass, with the gold overlay getting out of bounds.

At first glance the next guard looks like it could have carved decoration, but it appears to be stamped. I’m not sure about the motif, it looks like a nimbus or sunburst. Some mushrooms have gills that look somewhat like this. There’s also a biological resemblance there that I don’t think was known before the invention of the microscope…

This tsuba is the same shape as the one above and is almost the same size and thickness. The tagane around the nakago ana are also similar. I have to wonder if that’s just a coincidence or these could have come from the same workshop.

Looking closely at the stamping around the kozuka ana suggests that it is not a later addition. There is no trace of the “heads” of the stamping continuing around the seppa dai or any of the “tails” coming from the outer edge.

There are traces of the gold lacquer on top of the lead plug shown above suggesting that the coloring is a later addition or at least was refreshed at some time after the ana was filled.

The variegated colors on this plate are interesting and unusual. My guess is that they came with age rather than being the original patina.

Katchushi

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019 tsubakansho1 Comment

A large Ko-Katchushi tsuba in very good condition and without hitsu-ana.

Snow flake and fan paper motif. 9.46 cm H x 0.65 cm mimi, 0.28 cm seppa dai

The rim is fairly high and is a separate piece from the plate. It is slightly rounded. The plate was spared heavy rust and shows almost all of the original surface. Note the seppa zuri showing wear when the guard was mounted. Published in Tagane no Bi where it is dated to mid Muromachi.

Choji. 8.74 cm H x 0.77 cm mimi, 0.30 cm seppa dai

This is a very high rim. Between lacquer and corrosion I can’t make out whether the rim is attached or raised from the plate. Some original surface remains to the plate and fortunately the rust was never deep. Note that many ko-tosho and ko-katchushi tsuba today have no original surface remaining. Often the resulting rust pits are described as “bold hammer work.” Published in Sasano and dated there to the early Muromachi period. The kozuka ana has been filled.

Snowflakes. 8.86 cm H x 0.65 cm mimi, 0.38 cm seppa dai

This is a fairly common motif, but not usually seen with such an unusually wide mimi. Here the rim is clearly a separate piece and the lap joint can be seen at the 1:00 position.

The other side shows the same where the two ends were beveled and then overlapped. This is a younger guard than the ones above. The kozuka ana is clearly original given its inclusion in the layout of the sukashi design.

Oars and birds. 8.21 cm H x 0.57 cm mimi, 0.36 cm mimi

A ji-sukashi design rather than the usual mon-sukashi. This is probably early Edo period and has an airy, casual feel to the design. The rim is a separate piece.

Ko-kinko Sukashi

June 20, 2019 tsubakansho1 Comment

An early ko-kinko tsuba with kikusui and choji motif.

waves and droplets with chrysanthemum flower

clustered cloves, slightly offset on the two sides

More openwork than is usual for ko-kinko. The detail in the carving holds up even under a microscope, which is seldom the case. Sophisticated work in design and execution. In this case the ana is a safe bet to be original, if slightly altered. I’m left wondering what the rest of the mounting looked like.

Late Muromachi Ko-kinko

May 20, 2019May 28, 2019 tsubakansho2 Comments

A return to the more elaborate end of the early soft metal tsuba spectrum with another small shakudo nanako example made with very different technique from the recently posted early Muromachi example.

6.82 cm H x 0.55 cm T Autumn flowers and grasses with both inlaid and overlaid metals

Kikyo (bellflower) at the top left and Nadeshiko (pink) at bottom left. The zufu describes the other flowers as Kiku, but the shape of the leaves are different than usual for chrysanthemum. Aster is another possibility, but given that there are karakusa on the back with different leaves maybe the kiku blossoms aren’t meant as a literal representation of the plant.

The reverse. The kozuka ana is original, but presumably enlarged into the seppa dai.

Jakago motif mimi, seen later on Umetada tsuba

Update: Reader question about jakago. See photos by Satomi Grim below. Its use as a purely decorative motif probably has a bigger life than its literal meaning, but it started as a sort of basket weave construction used to hold rocks in place to stabilize river banks (enthusiastically replaced by concrete in modern Japan). In this tsuba it might imply that the plants are growing along a river bank or may just be there for its own sake. The same form is used in domestic baskets, packaging, etc., as well.

(end of update…)

Both sides of the seppa dai have small patches of what would at first just appear to be wear, but looking closely are metal overlay.

Occasionally on early kinko guards there are a few rows of nanako sown on the seppa dai that appear to be a test to get a feel for the material before starting in on the main part that will be seen. This isn’t the same, but might it be something related?

Going through Mr. Lundgren’s book recently I came across a very similar tsuba I had forgotten.

It looks very likely to me that it by the same individual. That is interesting enough, but note that on the backside seppadai there is also a “test patch” but in a color that relates to metal on that tsuba. The front side seppa dai has been modified to the point that it’s hard to say if it also has one.

Could this have been a final check of the preparation work to ensure that the adhesion of the iroe to the ground would be good before proceeding with the main work? That was a relatively new technique at this time but would soon replace uttori zogan.

It would be interesting to compare the two in person… any ideas?

Early Muromachi Ko-Kinko

May 8, 2019June 3, 2019 tsubakansho3 Comments

Continuing the micro-theme of early and opulent, this time in shakudo nanako with uttori zogan. This guard is rather small, but extremely thick and obviously was mounted on a robust blade.

Again- over 1 cm thick with an undecorated rim. No sign it has been cut down or mounted with a fukurin.

Detail views of some of the plant motifs. Usually flowers are shown realistically but leaves, stems, seeds, etc. are often omitted or substituted by generalized karakusa type motifs. Here each plant is represented fully and accurately.

Omodaka (arrowhead) at right and Hishi (Eurasian water caltrop) in center – water plants in the water.
Yamabuki on the left (Japanese Keria var. picta)

Asago (morning glory) at left and Tachibana (citrus) at right

Once again, that botan (peony) motif in a different technique

It would be interesting to know what this was mounted on. Was it this thick for weight alone, for aesthetics and/or conspicuous consumption (it’s solid shakudo)? A published description speculates that it may have been a tachi guard converted for koshigatana or uchigatana use, but if so in its original state all of the floral motifs would be growing upside down and the water would be in the sky.

The small size, thickness and shape do recall some early tachi guards, and while I don’t think it was one, there may have been some allusion there. Was it mounted on a koshigatana that was worn paired with a tachi?

In any event, a good opportunity to study some of the better early Muromachi period nanako and uttori work on a guard that has it all turned up to 11.

Update: A reader mentioned that it may be that the guard was mounted on a tachi or kodachi in the present orientation. Given the large sekigane and heavy work on the seppa dai it is possible that the original nakago ana pointed the other way and that its original outline was lost in later remounting on a much thicker blade. If it originally had no hitsuana, it is very fortunate that none of the original decoration was cut in half when they were added.

A Hiko-no

April 15, 2019May 23, 2019 tsubakanshoLeave a comment

7.12 cm H x 0.50 cm T (don’t know how it got to the bottom of the pile so quickly)

I like coming across these early kinko guards that look like they may have been the inspiration for Hirata Hikozo’s work. The color of the alloy combined with the lacquer along with the fukurin and carving have much the same flavor although Hikozo refined them all and built on it.

I had always thought the tagane were also original to these pieces, but a friend pointed out that they may have been added as an upgrade toward Hikozo’s tagane mei. It’s certainly possible, but I also see them on guards around the same age that I think would really take some imagination to try to pass off as Higo. For example:

They’re also seen on some iron Saotome tsuba, but the rest of the work is quite different, so probably no direct connection.

Setting Hikozo aside, note that the surface of this one is not covered with nanako or even worked with a ring-shaped punch. Each circle is made up of a series of tiny punch marks. I wonder if this was a country guy’s imitation of nanako or something original and maybe earlier.

Not nanako, but it had to have been a lot of work. Maybe the nanako punch was developed as a time saver.

In this case the fukurin is needed to finish the three layer construction of the plate. Unlike the typical san mai guard, the shakudo here is only a thin foil. There is (of course) a specific term for this that I’ve forgotten. A microscope view inside the kozuka ana is here:

It appears to be quite a tight bond without signs of solder. I don’t know how it was done. Yes, I labeled the photo incorrectly way back when, it really is the inside of the kozuka ana.