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100 selected tsuba from European collections. Catalogue by Robert Haynes and Robert Burawoy, 1984, page 16, №5.
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Japanese Sword Fittings. Collection of G.H. Naunton, Esq., by Henri L. Joly, - 1912; №9.
100 selected tsuba from European collections. Catalogue by Robert Haynes and Robert Burawoy, 1984, page 16, №5.
Japanese Sword Fittings. Collection of G.H. Naunton, Esq., by Henri L. Joly, - 1912; №9.
Gary D. Murtha's tsuba on page 61.
Thin iron tsuba of round form pierced with six three-leaf wood sorrels (katabami) in ko-sukashi and inlaid with brass decoration along the rim. Kozuka-hitsu-ana probably cut at a later date.
Late Muromachi or Momoyama period, 16th century. Dimensions: 78.0 x 77.7 x 2.5 mm.Iron tsuba of mokko form decorated with arabesque (karakusa) in low relief carving. niku from 4.0 mm in the centre to 5.1 mm at the rim. Strong Nobuie [信家] signature (futoji-mei) to the left of nakago-ana. Hitsuana plugged with pewter.
Size: H: 88.2 mm, W: 83.6, Th(c): 4.0 mm, Th(r): 5.1 mm Weight: 167 g.Signed: Nobuie [信家]
Probably the work of Nidai Nobuie (c. 1600).
Tokubetsu hozon certificate № 229324 of the N.B.T.H.K., dated 22.12.2010Thin iron plate of round form and black color carved in sukidashi-bori with design of rocks, waves, clouds, temple gates (torii), mountain pavilion and 5-storey pagoda on both sides, alluding to Todai-ji temple in Nara. Hitsu-ana pierced later. Very narrow very slightly raised rim. Copper sekigane.
Late Muromachi period, 16th century. Dimensions: 88.7 x 88.0 x 2.4 mm (seppa-dai), 1.8 mm (base plate).Reference: “Art of the Samurai” on page 232, №140: ”Kamakura tsuba with Sangatsu-do tower and bridge. Muromachi period, 16th century. 83 mm x 80 mm. Unsigned. Tokyo National Museum. The mountain pavilion and bridge carved in sunken relief on the iron tsuba – both part of Tōdai-ji, a temple in Nara – are detailed in fine kebori (line) engraving. As a result of the chiseling used to create the relief, the ground of the piece is relatively thin".
Size: H 71.9 x W 71.1 x Th (centre) 5.5 cm.
For information regarding this type of tsuba see the article 'Kirishitan Ikenie Tsuba by Fred Geyer at Kokusai Tosogu Kai; The 2nd International Convention & Exhibition, October 18-23, 2006, pp. 84-91.
![]() IHS emblem of the Jesuits |
![]() 茗荷 Myoga or Japanese ginger |
TSU-0282: Ko-kinko yamagane tsuba with waves and rabbit motif.
Compton's Collection, Part I, p. 11, №3.
Very fine iron plate well hammered and turned, tapering and rolling to the rounded edge. Tsuba of a cross-form mokko shape (juji-mokko-gata) decorated with spider web inlaid in gold on both sides. The face is carved with a silver-damascened spider holding a gold-damascened butterfly (nunome-zōgan). Kozuka and kogai hitsu-ana of inome (boar's eye) form. The udenuki ana may be of purely decorative purpose.
Signed: Yatsushiro [八代] Jingo Saku [甚吾作], a signature of Chisokutei Amatsune, one of the last Jingo masters.
Late Edo period, Tenpō era, 1830-1844.Size: Height: 77.5 mm; Width: 72.8 mm; Thickness: 4.1 mm; Weight: 141 g.
In a custom wooden box.
Here is what Markus Sesko wrights in his book The Japanese toso-kinko Schools, 2012, on page 374:An artist who worked in the style of the Shimizu-Jingo school was Chisokutei Amatsune (知足亭天常). He was actually a samurai from Yatsushiro who made tsuba as a sideline. An extant old hakogaki of one of his pieces mentions that he died in Edo in the sixth month of An'ei eight (1779) at the age of 73. But the era of An'ei is probably wrong because Chikokutei (sic) is today dated by most experts around Tenpō (1830-1844). His relationships with the Shimizu school or under which Jingo master he had studied are unknown. From the point of view of production time and the finishing of nakago-ana, he is rather associated with the 5th and last gen. Shigenaga who died in the seventh year of Kaei (1854). A peculiarity of Chisokutei was that he signed his Jingo copies with "Yatsushiro Jingo Saku" ([八代甚吾作) but added the small syllable "chi" (チ) or the character "Chi" (知) for "Chisokutei" to identify them as copies.No longer available.
Yamagane (bronze) tsuba (kagamishi, or mirror-maker) with the design of tomoe (comma) and suhama in openwork. Surface treated with hammer marks and chiselled with the design of maple leaves and encircled two bars (maru-ni-futatsu-biki, Ashikaga clan family crest, or mon) on both sides. Raised rim or rim cover (fukurin). Custom kiri-wood box.
Size: 87.4 x 86.2 x 2.9 (center), 4.9 (rim) mm; weight: 120 g.Classical picklock bayonet switchblade knife with bolster release, fixed guard, cream handles (ivory?).
Size: 123 mm x 20 mm (closed); 220 mm (opened); 130 mm blade.
Tang is etched with: Havlin.Tsuba of oval form decorated with clematis six-petal flowers, tendrils, and leaves in cast brass with details carved in kebori, inlaid on iron plate carved in low relief (kebori and sukidashi-bori). Hitsu-ana plugged with shakudō. Copper sekigane.
Heianjō (or Ōnin) school. Unsigned. Mid Muromachi period (1454-1513). Dimensions: 87.2 x 84.3 x 4.3 mm. Tsuba is illustrated and described in Gary D. Murtha's "Onin-Heianjo-Yoshiro" book on pages 38-39. Mid-Muromachi is the age attribution by Gary. “A picture book of Japanese sword guards. Victoria & Albert Museum“, published in 1927 presents us with a somewhat similar tsuba: "Floral ornament. Iron, with brass incrustation". V&A attributes the tsuba to Ōnin style, 16th century.Iron tsuba of round form decorated with a deer and maple leaves in positive silhouette openwork (ji-sukashi), with details finely carved in low relief (kebori). Nakagō-ana plugged with copper fittings (sekigane). Traces of lacquer on the surface.
NBTHK: Hozon, №424947.
Design: An autumnal tsuba with an allusion to Kasuga Shrine in Nara.
Attributed by NBTHK to Shoami. Age: Probably the Momoyama period (1574 – 1603) or early Edo period (1603 – 1650), but judging on the item's substantial size (diameter 86.6 mm) and considerable thinness (3.4 mm) may be attributed to earlier times (late Muromachi period, 1514 – 1573).Iron tsuba of elongated round form with brown (chocolate) patina. The surface is carved with file strokes (sujikai-yasurime) to imitate heavy rain. The design of a bird drinking water from a bucket hanging on a rope is carved in low relief (sukidashi-bori); the rope is inlaid in gold. The well structure on the reverse, carved in low relief. Nakago-ana is enlarged and plugged with copper sekigane. Unsigned.
Edo period.Size: Height: 75.1 mm; Width: 68.3 mm; Thickness: 4.6 mm; Weight: 134 g.
Unsigned.
SOLDIron tsuba of mokkō form decorated with inome (wild boar's eye) in openwork (sukashi) outlined with brass wire. The plate decorated with 3 concentric circular rows of brass dots in ten-zōgan. Center of the plate outlined with the inlaid circular brass wire (sen-zōgan). Some dots and the outline of inome on the face are missing.
Ōnin school. Unsigned. Mid Muromachi period, middle of the 15th century. Dimensions: 72.1 x 71.3 x 2.3 mm.Tsukioka Yoshitoshi [月岡 芳年] (Japan, 1839 – 1892): Tokugawa Yoshimune [徳川 吉宗] (1684 – 1751) playing kemari [蹴鞠]
Caldwell Collection. Sotheby's 1994, №15.
Iron tsuba of oval form with a shakudō fukurin and rough surface decorated by low relief carving and brass inlay with a centipede emerging from under the rock on both sides.
Edo period.Size: 78.9 x 73.6 x 3.8 mm
Unsigned. However, this tsuba may be (though with reservation) attributed to Misumi Kōji school. There is some information regarding this master(s) in Tsuba. An aesthetic study by Kazutaro Torigoye and Robert E. Haynes (from the Tsuba Geijutsu-kō of Kazataro Torigoye. Edited and published by Alan L. Harvie for the Nothern California Japanese Sword Club, 1994-1997) on pages 163-4, though I was not able to locate the tsuba in the original publication. Possibly, this fragment of the book was added by Robert Haynes. Markus Sesko speculates about Misumi in his The Japanese toso-kinko Schools.// Lulu Inc., 2012 on pages 374-5: "Misumi Kōjo Tsuba. Iron plate, elliptical shape, shakudō takabori suemon, yamagane fukurin. Centipede." But of course, visual similarity does not prove anything. I was not able to find any traces of signature or a triangle on the seppa-dai.Misumi Kōji Tsuba on p. 163.
TSU-0323. Ko-kinko yamagane tsuba with waves and rabbit motif.
Small iron tsuba (tantō size) of aoi form with the design of paulownia leaves and blossoms in copper and brass flat inlay (hira-zōgan). Brass sekigane. Open kozuka hitsu-ana.
Early Edo period, 17th century.
Size: 53.4 x 40.7 x 4.4 mm; weight: 47.4 g
Pro-tech Walter Brend custom switchblade knife with solid 416 stainless steel frame, amber jigged bone inlays, mirror polished 154-CM blade.
Size: 94 mm (closed); 168 mm (opned); 74 mm blade)
Compton Collection, Part II, p.p. 26-27, №54.
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.Bronze tsuba of mokkō form with narrow slightly raised rim carved in kebori with the sea weed and inlaid with a lobster (ebi) made of copper on the face and two sea shells made of shakudo on the back. Lobster's antennae inlaid in gold, and eyes inlaid in shakudo. Ishime-ji treated surface.
Unsigned.
Late Edo period (mid-19th century). Dimensions: 76.3 x 71.1 x 3.7 mmIron tsuba of round form with brown patina decorated with the design of a Buddhist temple bell (tsurigane) in openwork (sukashi), with details outlined in brass wire (sen-zōgan), the outer ring decorated with two rows of brass dots (ten-zōgan), and the bell details carved in sukidashi-bori as on kamakura-bori pieces.
Ōnin school. Unsigned. Late Muromachi period, 16th century. Dimensions: 88.8 x 88.3 x 3.0 mm. As per Merrily Baird, two legends are usually associated with the image of tsurigane, a large, suspended Buddhist bell: one is that of Dojo Temple (Dojo-ji), and the other is of Benkei stealing the tsurigane of Miidera Temple. Interestingly, this type of bell (tsurigane) is not described as a family crest (mon), while suzu and hansho bells are.Fuchi-kashira with rock and boar (iwa ni inoshishi zu) motif. Inlay of precious stones or colour glass. Shakudō, gold, gemstones. Technique: Sukibori zogan kiniroe.
Fuchi: 36 x 21 x 14 mm; Weight: 22 g; Kashira: 32 x 17 x 5 mm; Weight: 8 g; Material : Shakudō; Gold; Gemstones (Chalcedony and Rose Quartz). Possibly, Owari school.Iron tsuba of round form with design of hatchet, snowflake, and triple diamond in openwork (ko-sukashi), and inlaid with five concentric circles of brass dots (ten-zōgan) and brass inner circular line. Sukashi elements outlined in brass.
Late Muromachi period. Diameter: 82.4 mm; Thickness: 3.0 mm The triple lozenge (or diamond) is similar to the one on TSU-305 from Sasano Collection # 15. Very old motif; as Sasano remarks in his book "...represents the unstable political situation at the time".Kokusai Tosogu Kai 5th International Convention & Exhibition, October 28-30, 2009 at NEZU Museum, Tokyo, Japan, on page 83 provides the following explanation of the triple diamond symbol: "The pine bark is the form of the Diamonds, "Bishi", mon, seen from Nara period, found on cloth stored in the Shoso In, and used primarily by the Takeda family. The form of Bishi mon [similar to ours] is called "Chu Kage Matsukawa Bishi", (Middle Shaded Pine Bark Diamond)."
A combination of hatchet (usually an axe) and a triple diamond (Matsukawabishi) alludes to the Nō play Hachi-no-ki (ref: Iron tsuba. The works of the exhibition "Kurogane no hana", The Japanese Sword Museum, 2014; AND Sasano: Japanese Sword Guard Masterpieces from the Sasano Collection. By Sasano Masayuki. Part One. Published in Japan in 1994.Torigoye: sea cucumber and butterfly.
Ko-Katchūshi tsuba: Lake and pine.
Small iron tsuba (tantō size) of oval form carved with imitation of six overlapping plates, decorated with paulownia blossoms, leaves, and tendrils in brass and copper hira-zōgan. Copper sekigane. Open kozuka hitsu-ana.
Early Edo period, 17th century.
Size: 50.5 x 34.0 x 4.9 mm.
Classical picklock Italian stiletto switchblade knife with bolster release, fixed guard, Brazilian horn handle.
Size: 112 mm (closed); 240 mm (opened); 90 mm blade.
Tang is etched with: Latama, Italy. SOLD