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IROGANE KO-TSUBA: OLD SOFT METAL TSUBA
from Kamakura to MomoyamaHow to recognise it if you see one
Mariusz Kołecki
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THINGS TO LOOK FOR• Tsuba shape• Metal or alloy used• Patina• Lacquer remnants• Shape of hitsu ana• Size of nakago ana relative to plate• Decoration and execution
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SHAPE• Some shapes were typical and are not seen in the Edo period,
e.g. the squarish Aoi tsuba of the Kamakura period
Aoi tsuba, Kamakura/Nambokucho
Aoi tsuba, Muromachi (and later Edo, too)
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SOME RARE SHAPES• sometimes you will see a shape reminiscent of earlier shitogi tsuba• sometimes you will see a very prominent rim (mimi), hardly ever seen in Edo.
The mysterious entrant is also a pre-Edo affair...
shitogi reminiscent tsuba 15th century
Aoi tsuba with prominent mimi and entrant
15th century
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METALS AND ALOYSMetals and alloys used before the Edo period*:• yamagane (unrefined copper) - cheap• suaka (refined copper) - rather rare, unlike yamagane• bronze (copper and tin allot) - resilient and hard, expensive• nigurome (copper + katashirome, a copper/tin alloy) - base
for shakudo, it can be made to look like shakudo• shinchu (brass) - expensive, imported from China• shakudo (nigurome and gold alloy) - very expensive because
of the gold component
* metals and alloys NOT used in the Edo period are marked in Italics
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shinchu
bronze
yamagane
suakashakudo
COLOURS OF METALS & ALLOYS
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PATINAFind me an Edo period tsuba with such a rich patina!• yamagane (unrefined coper) has particularly rich patina in different
local varieties, depending on the composition of the unrefined metal
Splendid, shakudo-like patina in a simple uchigatana tsuba
Patina with rich plum undertones in a yamagane ko-Umetada tsuba
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LACQUER• Applying urushi to the plate was a practice before Edo jidai. It served two
pourposes:• protection against corrosion • making a yamagane or nigurome tsuba look like it was made from shakudo
Very well preserved urushi on a yamagane sukashi plate
Remnants of urushi on a suaka plate
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HITSU ANASome of the old tsuba have hitsu ana shapes reflecting the kozuka and kogai used back then... as well as fashion, I think.
Kamakura Muromachi
Most of the time such openings disclose great age, but they have been sometimes used in Edo, too.
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NAKAGO ANALate Muromachi was a time when it was fashinable to fit a small tsuba to an uchigatana, which was almost as long as the Edo katana*
* for examples of such mounting look at: “Uchigatana no Koshirae”, Tokyo National Museum, 1985
Look at the pic: isn’t the nakago ana huge when compared to the overall size of the tsuba?
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DECORATION STYLE• Relatively simple and naive
Waves, Kamakura/Nambokucho Waves, Edo
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FINISH
visible fukurin joining seam,simple ishime, Muromachi
primitive nanako, Muromachi
Sometimes a bit sloppy...
simple surface punching Muromachi
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FINISH
Yamagane tsuba with fukurin, and
awa ishime punching, Muromachi
Yamagane tsuba, wisteria, nanako,
Muromachi
But the effect is excellent!
Large tsuba with ounchmark and mon-sukashi, Muromachi
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ATTRIBUTION
• Sorry, no signatures!• Sorry, no sources• Sorry, but all those convenient categories have been
devised in the late Edo period and are pure constructs
Problems
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ATTRIBUTION“Orthodox” categories:
1. tachi kanagushi - the tachi kodogu makers2. ko-kinko - old gold- and silversmiths (including Goto)3. kagamishi - mirror makers
Real categories defined by the production process1. forged tsuba (made mainly from yamagane), including:
• simple and functional, with only rudimentary adornments• highly ornamental (silver, gold applications plus carving) - they often look like
Mino or Goto2. cast tsuba (made mainly from bronze) - usually described
as “kagmishi”* tsuba, featuring:• stamped motives• naive motives
* too many styles to attribute them all to mirror makers
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KAGAMI & “KAGAMISHI” TSUBA
and “kagamishi”
tsuba
Mirrors (kagami)...
Hard to believe these are all by mirror makers? Because they aren’t!
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KAGAMISHI? NO, REALLY?NBTHK Origami - attribution to ko-kagamishi!
No seppa dai, nakago ana cuts through the motif - this is not a tsuba. And it is not a mirror, either, as both sides are identical. This object (a bronze lid?) has been converted into a tsuba. And it has not been made by kagamishi - their technique and details being totally different
Conclusion: the NBTHK is dead-wrong here! Still, this is a lovely, early item (Kamakura?)
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KAGAMI CONVERSION• a Momoyama/Edo kagami converted into a tsuba• cranes and turtle motif (symbols of longevity) • the turtle in the middle has been filed down to accommodate the
seppa dai and nakago ana• omote is smooth (this used to be the actual mirror - polished bronze)
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NAME THE TSUBA...
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THANK YOU...I have used mainly my own pics in this presentation. Exceptions: - Aoi tsuba by Boris Markhasin (yamabushiantiques.com)- Shakudo ko-kinko tsuba by Richard Turner (kodogunosekai.com)- Nami tsuba from the Edo period - Andrew Quirt (nihonto.us)- Little “kagamishi” with birds and flowers - Ed Marshall (yakiba.com)