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Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞] a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Publisher: Iseya Sōemon [伊勢屋惣右衛門] (Japanese, c. 1776 – 1862). Signed: Kunisada ga within a double toshidama. Date-kiwame seals: Bunsei 11 (1828). -
Iron tsuba of oval form with design of cherry blossoms in positive and negative silhouette openwork (ji-sukashi and in-sukashi). Details chiseled in kebori technique. Rounded rim. Copper sekigane. Higo school, Hayashi sub-school. Unsigned. Attributed to third generation Tōhachi (1723-1791). Edo period, 18th century (Hōreki / Meiwa era: 1751-1772). Height: 78.7 mm. Width: 72.2 mm. Rim thickness: 5.2 mm. Center thickness: 5.2 mm. Provenance: Sasano Masayuki Collection, № 289: "Hayashi. Third generation Tohachi (died in in the third year of Kansei, 1791 at the age of sixty-nine). Early 18th century (Hohreki / Meiwa era). " -
Mukade-zōgan tsuba with two types of wires. Iron, inlaid with brass and iron wire fastened to the surface with metal staples (mukade-zōgan); Brass inlay around the rim. Design is thought to resemble a centipede. "Centipede-like inlay (mukade zogan) of alternating iron and brass staples produce an appearance that was particularly favored by Takeda Shingen (1521-1573), one of the most powerful warlords of his time. The centipede is sacred to Bishamon (God of War) and especially propitious for a warrior. Shingen type, 16th century.” [The Peabody Museum collection of Japanese sword guards with selected pieces of sword furniture, by John D. Hamilton. Photographs by Mark Sexton. Salem, MA, 1975.] Height: 85.8 mm; Width 86.2 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 4.3 mm. Weight 177.6 g. Early Edo, 17th century. http://varshavskycollection.com/shingen-tsuba/ -
Kitagawa Utamaro. Illustration from book Ehon koi no Onamaki, published in 1799. Reference found by Chris Uhlenbeck: he found one of the designs in Hayashi Yoshikazu's 20-volume set Edo makura-e shi shusei: Kitagawa Utamaro. Size: Chuban (25.5 x 18.5 cm), two book pages glued together. -
A yamagane tsuba of oval form with green-ish black patina decorated in usuniku-bori carving and gold iroe with wisteria (fuji) motif plus nanako-ji ground on both sides. Kozuka-hitsu-ana possibly cut later.
Unsigned.
Momoyama or may be even Muromachi period. Dimensions: 70.0 x 61.2 x 5.0 (center) mm -
Iron tsuba of round form (tsurumaru) decorated with a design of crane and pines, or "nesting crane (sugomori-tsuru)" in openwork (sukashi). Details carved in kebori. Rounded rim.
Size: 74.7 x 69.8 x 4.8 mm.
Unsigned.
Edo period, ca. 17th century.
NBTHK Certificate № 463485. The certificate says it's a Higo School piece. The design was popular in both Akasaka and Higo schools. The Akasaka example: at Kodogu and tsuba. International collections not published in my books. (Toso Soran). Ph. D. Kazutaro Torigoye, 1978, p. 246: "Late Edo. Jiyūgata. Sined: Akasaka Tadanori saku."The Higo example can be found at Iron tsuba. The works of the exhibition "Kurogane no hana", The Japanese Sword Museum, 2014, p. 69, №56: Sugomori-tsuru sukashi-tsuba (Nesting Carne). Mumei: Matashichi (1st generation), early 17th century.
Torigoye, 1978, p. 246. Late Akasaka.
Kurogane no hana, 2014, p. 69, №56. Higo tsuba.
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Tsuba of oval form decorated with vines, tendrils, and leaves on trellis in brass inlay with details carved in kebori, and pierced with six family crests (mon) with two, three and four pointing stars in openwork, each outlined with brass wire and carved in kebori. Original hitsu-ana outlined with brass wire was probably enlarged later. Copper sekigane.
Momoyama to early Edo period (end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century). Dimensions: 68.3 x 64.5 x 3.4 mm. -
Iron tsuba of diamond form with rounded corners with the design of a double gourd on a branch in openwork. Dark brown patina. Ko-Shōami school. Custom kiri-wood box with hakogaki of Sasano Masayuki.
Momoyama Period (1574-1603)
Size: 77.1 x 75.7 x 4.6 mm; weight: 75.3 g.
Provenance: Sasano Masayuki[Translated by Markus Sesko]Hakogaki lid outside: 古正阿弥鐔 Ko-Shōami tsuba Hakogaki lid inside:Hyōtan-sukashi Mumei, Momoyama-ki saku Tetsu, ji-sukashi Koboku-aware no kasaku Heisei ninen Soshinkan Minazuki Openwork design of gourd Unsigned, Momoyama era work Iron, large openwork Masterwork full of classical charm. June of 1990, Soshinkan [pen name of Sasano Masayuki]瓢簞透 無銘 桃山期作 鉄地透
古撲惻之佳作 平成二年 素心鑑 水無月
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Artist: Utagawa Kunisada [歌川 国貞]; a.k.a. Utagawa Toyokuni III [三代歌川豊国] (Japanese, 1786 – 1865). Signed: Toyokuni ga [豊国 画] in a red toshidama cartouche. Publisher: Ibaya Senzaburō [伊場屋仙三郎] (Japanese, fl. C. 1845 – 1847), seal: San [三] (Marks 11-001 | 127c). Block carver: Matsushima Fusajirō [松嶋房次郎] (Japanese, fl. 1843 – 1850); seal [彫工房] – Hori kō Fusa. Double nanushi censor seal: Kunigasa & Watanabe (1849-50). Actor: Ichikawa Danjūrō VII [市川団十郎] (Japanese, 1791 – 1859); other names: Ichikawa Ebizō V [市川海老蔵], Ichikawa Hakuen II, Ichikawa Shinnosuke I. Play: Yukari no Hana Iro mo Yoshiwara [紫花色吉原], performed at the Kawarazaki Theater (Edo) from the 5th day of the 5th lunar month of Kaei 3 (1850) (see Kabuki Playbill at MFA (Boston) № 11.27996).
Sano Jirōzaemon [佐野次郎左衛門] – provincial commoner who killed a famous Yoshiwara courtesan named ManjiyaYatsuhashi [万字屋 八ツ橋] (on the second sheet of the pair):
Another Kunisada's print with the same characters in the same play and same performance can be seen at MFA (Boston) № 11.40190.
SVJP-0298.2019: Ichikawa Ebizō V as Sano Jirōzaemon.
SVJP-0297.2019: Iwai Kumesaburō III as Manjiya Yatsuhashi
One more example can be seen at the two upper images in Waseda University Cultural Resources Database, № 006-2707:
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Artist: Utagawa Toyohiro [歌川豐廣] (Japanese, 1773 – 1828) Publisher: Takasu Soshichi (Marks 25-247 / 517) Size: pillar print (hashira-e), 69.2 x 13 cm.Signed: Toyohiro ga [豐廣画]
Catalogue raisonné: Jacob Pins, The Japanese Pillar Print, № 923, p. 326. -
Artist: Utagawa Kuniyoshi [歌川 國芳] (Japanese, 1798 – 1861) Publisher: British Museum provides for the title as Enkyoku-zoroi [艶曲揃] (Set of Voluptuous Melodies) and the publisher as Sanpei. Indeed, 三平 (Sanpei) was a wholesale fan shop at the end of the Edo period. However, Andreas Marks identifies the publisher’s seal as 三平 Mihei = Mikawaya Heiroku (1848-56), a member of the Fan Producing Guild (AM 11-016|325a). Block carver: Hori Take [彫竹]Signed: Ichiyosai Kuniyoshi ga in a red cartouche and sealed with paulownia (kiri mon).
Date seal and double nanushi censor seals: Fuku & Muramatsu, 1853 (Kaei 6, 2nd month).
Size: Uchiwa-e (untrimmed fan print) 229 x 294 mm.
Provenance: The Collection of Paul F. Walter, Christie's, New York, 2017, lot 338; sold together with 10 other fan prints for $27,500. Before: Christie's, New York, 1994, lot 145 ($4,830). Ref: [LIB-1693.2018] The Collection of Paul Walter. — NY: Christie's, 2017, p. 361. Ref: Israel Goldman, Catalogue 2018, № 41: "Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) A Woman on a Terrace Dancing with a Fan. From the series Enkyoku zoroi (Collection of Charming Music). 1853. Fan print. 22.9 x 29.4 cm. Provenance: Japanese Prints, Paintings and Screens, Christie's, New York, 1994, lot 145 ($4,830); The Collection of Paul F. Walter, Christie's, New York, 2017, lot 338. Fine impress." Known prints in this series:
SVJP-0251.2018
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Book title: Kabuki fan-prints from Edo: Genroku to Enkyō periods (1688-1748) [江戸歌舞伎団扇絵] (Edo kabuki uchiwa-e: Genroku - Enkyō hen). Author: Shigeo Miyao [宮尾しげを] (Japanese, 1902 – 1982). Comments by: Sutezō Kimura [木村仙集] (Japanese, 20th century). Publisher: Inoue Shobō [井上書房] (Tokyo). Oblong volume bound in black washi paper with silver kabuki face design to front and silver lettering to spine and silver publisher’s name to back; three-colour title, folding frontispiece, second frontispiece, pp.: [6] foreword, contents, [2] f.t.p./blank, 3-134 [2], 43 full-page black & white illustrations, colophon slip pasted, bookstore label to back pastedown, in a pink slipcase with black lettering. Primitive fan prints from the Kaga collection, from 1691 to 1747. Edition: 1st edition, limited to 500 copies. -
Hardcover volume, 35 x 26.8 cm, bound in grey cloth, blind stamped characters to front, brown characters to spine, in a double slipcase, the outer case pictorial paper over cardboard, 36 x 28.2 cm, pp.: [4] [1] 2-144 (plates with photographs of 332 items), [2] 147-182 [4]. 鍋島 – Nabeshima – book title. 日本の陶磁 – Japanese ceramics, series title. Contributors: Yasunari Kawabata [川端 康成] (Japanese, 1924 – 1972) – author. Tetsuzo Tanikawa [谷川 徹三] (Japanese, 1895 – 1989) – author. Seizo Hayashiya [林屋晴三] (Japanese, 1928 – 2017) – editor. Chūōkōron-sha [中央公論社] – publisher. -
Iron tsuba of oval form with design of a gourd or aubergine vine with fruits, leaves, and blossoms climbing a trellis, and a fence in yellow brass and red copper flat inlay (hira-zōgan); inlay engraved. Two latticed windows represented by openwork (sukashi). The iron web has deep black patina. The seller attributes this tsuba to Heianjo-Namban school, whatever it means. Momoyama or early Edo period, 17th century. Kaga or Heianjō School. Unsigned. Height: 77.3, Width: 73.1, Thickness at seppa-dai: 3.6 mm. -
Katsukawa Shunshō ( 勝川 春章; 1726 – 19 January 1793).SIZE: 12.5 x 5.75 in.
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Yamagane tsuba of round form with design of a 14 petal chrysanthemum (kiku) in cast openwork (sukashi), with slightly raised rounded rim. Early Muromachi period (1393-1457). Size: Height: 64.5 mm; Width: 64.0 mm; Thickness at seppa-dai: 4.1 mm; Weight: 52.5 g. Provenance: Sasano collection (though not illustrated in the book 'Sasano: Japanese Sword Guard Masterpieces from the Sasano Collection, 1994', which only covers tsuba made of iron). Wooden box (tomobako) with inscription (hakogaki) by Sasano Masayuki. References: Illustrated on p. 140 at Tosogu: Treasure of the samurai by Graham Gemmell in the article Muromachi period tsuba by Robin Peverett, London, 1991, pp. 131-145. Sold at Sotheby's, London, Thursday 10 April 1997 Sotheby's, London, 1997 [Japanese Swords and Tsuba from the Professor A.Z. Freeman and the Phyllis Sharpe Memorial collections], p. 16: "A ko-kinko bronze Tsuba, early Muromachi period (1393-1453) of circular form, with raised rounded rim, pierced with kiku petals and with a small elongated kozuka-hitsu, the work appearing to be cast and finished by hand. 6.4cm, thickness at centre 4.15mm, at rim 4.8mm. With a Tomobako, bearing a hakogaki by Masayuki Sasano, with rating Shu. Estimated: £1,000-1,500." Hakogaki (courtesy M. Sesko): 古金工 鐔 Ko-Kinkō tsuba 菊花透 無銘 山銅地透 時代 室町前期 古雅入念 秀作 昭和戊辰年伏月 素心鑑 kikka-sukashi, mumei yamagane, ji-sukashi jidai Muromachi-zenki koga nyūnen, shūsaku Showa tsuchinoe-tatsudoshi fukugetsu Soshinkan Kikka-sukashi, unsigned. Of yamagane and with ji-sukashi. Era is early Muromachi period. Excellent and carefully made work of classical elegance. June in the year of the dragon of the Shōwa era (1988) Soshinkan (pen name of Sasano Masayuki). -
Well-forged iron plate of round shape (maru-gata) is decorated with water weeds or arabesque (karakusa) in flat brass inlay (hira-zōgan) all over and eight family crests (mon) of round form in cast brass with delicate linear carving (kebori) and openwork (sukashi). Crests represent: [at 9 hours] three counter-clockwise commas or swirls (tomoe); [at 10:30] plum blossom (ume); [at 12:00, 1:130, and 7:30] - stylized flower made by cutting out five suhama symblos (flower-shaped suhama); [at 3:00] bellflower (kikyō); [at 4:30] seven-star crest (shichiyō-mon); [at 6:00] cherry blossom (sakura). Brass-trimmed ryo-hitsu. Copper sekigane. Yoshirō school. Momoyama or early Edo period, end of the 16th to first half of the 17th century (1574-1650). Inscription on seppa-dai: 八幡 - Hachiman. Size: height 89.6 mm, width 89.3 mm, thickness at seppa-dai 3,0 mm. Weight 129.7 g. NBTHK certificate № 4007685, June 27, 2015: HOZON (Worthy of Preservation). As for the inscription, Nihonto Message Board blog discussion provides the following explanation of the inscription: "An expression of conviction as to being the best under the sun". On the other hand, there may be more in this confluence of symbols: the tomoe crest at 9:00 is "the kamon of Hachiman, the war god" [Family Crests of Japan; Stone Bridge Press, Berkeley, CA, 2007, p. 108]. The character 八 in the inscription cut stronger than the other kanji, and may be by a different hand in different time. 八 (hachi, eight): "The numeral eight was appreciated because its shape broadens toward the bottom, symbolizing eternal expansion" [ibid, p. 119]. It may be said that this tsuba is dedicated to Hachiman. Other crests (suhama, bellflower, seven-stars, plum and cherry blossoms) collectively allude to "good old times" when Fijiwara and Taira clans were in full bloom. Markus Sesko believes that the inscriptions reads: Hachiman: "the inscription is/was HACHIMAN (八幡), the God of War and a relatively popular inscription for tsuba, swords and armor." Elliott Long and Robert Haynes provide the following explanation of the inscription: "...hachi is correct and represents the name of the HACHI SHRINE. The inscription reads 'YAWATA' which is the name of the mountain in Mino Province where the HACHI Shrine is located". Details on Hachiman Shrine in Yawata (八幡市) can be found elsewhere, including Historical and geographical dictionary of Japan by Edmond Papinot. Van Ham auction house provides the following description: MON-SUKASHI TSUBA. MARUGATA. Japan. Momoyama period. Yoshiro school. Iron with inlays of brass. In hira-zogan technique with kebori engraving eight different family emblems (mon). An old inscription is dedicated to the deity Hachiman. D.4.5mm, Ø 8.3cm. Condition A/B. Supplement: Wooden box and NBTHK certificate. -
An iron tsuba of 12-lobed form with alternating four solid and four openwork areas, each with a central bar. Symbolism remains unclear, possibly - a gunbai, i.e. military leader's fan. The solid parts decorated with 5 to 6 rows of brass dots of nail heads inlaid in ten-zōgan. The center of the plate as well as the sukashi elements are outlined with brass wire. The kozuka-hitsu-ana seems original. Muromachi period. Dimensions: 77.9 x 77.5 x 3.2 mm.
