Yamagane, kikka-gata tsuba with scalloped rim, and image of waves on the tsuba plate with gold and silver zōgan which are representing foam on the waves. Pierced sukashi resembling Genji letter in sukashi.

Tokubetsu Kichō (especially precious) appraisal paper issued by NBTHK in 1971.

This tsuba’s scalloped rim (31 petals), as well as the sukashi carving of the Genji letter around the kogai hitsu-ana, make this a very unique and appealing tsuba.

Dates to early Muromachi period, ca.1400

Mei/signature:
Mumei

School/province:
Ko-kinkō

Period/age:
Muromachi period, ca.1400

Measures:
6.60 cm x 6.40 cm x 0.50 cm, 107 gr.

Certificate:
NBTHK TOKUBETSU KICHO TOKEN (1971)

Included:
Kiri box + certificate included

Iron, marugata, hammer-patterned surface with image of ink and inkstone on the front, and ink brush on the back. The design on the ink stick looks to be a stylized kanji for 壽 (kotobuki – long life), and is done in gold inlay. Likewise, the brush on the reverse is also decorated with colored metal inlays. The theme reveals the cultured world of the samurai, who ideally should strive to be as proficient in letters as he should be in the martial arts.

Condition of this tsuba is very good and is very heavy. It has little stylistic surprises like the word “Kotobuki” which is almost hidden in the design on the ink block, and the way the seppa-dai covers the inkstone in a way that gives a feeling of depth. The tsuba looks black and a bit glossy, as if it were a kind of ink stick itself.

This mumei (unsigned) tsuba, is possibly a Shôami-style work made by Satô Chinkyû (佐藤珍久), whom is regarded as the founder of the Shônai branch of the Nara school and having the famous Tsuchiya Yasuchika as apprentice. We cannot be certain that this tsuba is by work by Satô Chinkyû (佐藤珍久) and further study is required.

—
Please read my comparison notes below,
included in this article written by Marcus Sesko
—

Chinkyû´s enkô-hogetsu motif

Whilst doing some research on Satô Chinkyû (佐藤珍久), I found three tsuba of him with the same sujet of which two are almost identically interpreted. First of all, his name is often also read as „Yoshihisa“ and not much is known about his life and career. We do know that his civilian name was „Satô Yagobei“ (佐藤弥五兵衛). His father was, according to transmission, a certain Shôami Shirô´emon (正阿弥四郎右衛門) who was supposedly active around Kanbun (寛文, 1661-1673) but of whom nothing is known except this connection to Chinkyû. Well, the date Kanbun might be dismissed for the following two reasons: Chinkyû studied later in Edo under Nara Toshiharu (奈良利治). His year of death is unknown but due to an extant work with the signature „gyônen nanajûissai“ (行年 七十一歳, „at the age of 71“) and the date „Kanbun-san koyomi-rokugatsu“ (寛文三暦六月, „sixth month of the third year of [1663]“), we can calculate his year of birth to Bunroku two (文禄, 1593). There exists a further work which is signed with the information „at the age of 85“, that means Toshiharu was active at least until around 1678, i.e. until the second half of the Enpô era (延宝, 1673-1681). And Chinkyû´s famous student and son-in-law Tsuchiya Yasuchika (土屋安親) was born in Kanbun ten (1670). So if Chinkyû was the son of Shôami Shirô´emon, the latter was surely not active around Kanbun as otherwise his son would not have been able to get in touch with Nara Toshiharu and would have been too young to be the master and father-in-law of Yasuchika.

Picture 1: Nara-style tsuba of Chinkyû, spring scenery, signed „Chinkyû“, iron, nadekaku-gata, takabori-iroe, sukashi, one hitsu-ana (plugged).

Picture 2 and 3: Shôami-style tsuba of Chinkyû, writing utensils, signed „Chinkyû“, iron, tatemaru-gata, takabori-iroe, one hitsu-ana (plugged at one tsuba)

—
IMPORTANT NOTES:

On picture 2 the rough surface, the kanji on the ink stick are very much the same and at some degree shape of hitsu-ana is similar.

On picture 3 we see even more similarities, notice the way the brush is shaped, the way seppa-dai is raised only partly in the area of the ink, shape of nakago-ana and hitsu-ana. In general we can compare the shape and big bold design of tsuba, large empty areas and other similarities
—

Anyway, Chinkyû brought the Nara style to his home of Shônai (庄内) in Dewa province and is therefore regarded as the founder of the Shônai branch of the Nara school. That means his works are of course strongly Nara-influenced what concerns first and foremost those from his earlier period which are done in iron. A good example from this artistic period can be seen in picture 1. But the two very similar tsuba I mentioned before (pictures 2 and 3) were probably made even before his studies in Edo as they show pretty good the Shôami influence of his supposed father. Both show on the right side of the omote a so-called „kenbyô“ (硯屏), a decorative small table screen which protects the writing area from dust and the like. On the left side we see ink and on the ura a brush and an inkstone. That means writing utensils (bunbôgu, 文房具) or calligraphy in general are the motif of the tsuba. The interpretation is tasteful and the workmanship surely of a certain quality but most interesting is the monkey depicted on the table screen. It sits on a small rock with some grass highlighted in gold and stretches his rather long arm out to the left, the area of the screen which is not seen because of the seppa-dai. The same monkey in the very same posture (also with the rock and the gilded grass) is namely seen on Chinkyû´s most famous tsuba (picture 4), the suaka-tsuba with the so-called „enkô-hogetsu“ motif (猿猴捕月).

Picture 4: Yasuchika-style tsuba of Chinkyû, enkô-hogetsu motif, signed „Chinkyû kore o horu“ (珍久彫之), suaka, takabori-iroe, suemon, one hitsu-ana (plugged)

The term „enkô-hogetsu“ derives from an Buddhist parable where a monkey tries to catch the reflection of the moon in the water. The picture stands for the useless attempt of striving after goals which are beyond the limits of oneself or the human nature in general as the limit of the monkey´s smartness is to realize that there is nothing in the water he can catch even if it is shining. The name of the sujet is also quoted in slightly different formulations like „enkô-sokugetsu“ (猿猴捉月), „enkô shugetsu“ (猿猴取月) or just „enkô ga tsuki“ (猿猴が月), where „enkô“ means „monkey“ and „ho/torae(ru)“ (捕), „soku/torae(ru)“ (捉) and „shu/to(ru)“ (取) „to grasp, to catch“. The style of Chinkyû´s enkô-hogetsu tsuba anticipates what is later one of the most representative styles of his master-student Yasuchika. That means the shape of the monkey, the obviously too large pine needles and bamboo grass bushes on the ura play with a pretended „amateurishness“ but are of course perfectly executed. Also very subtle is the contrast between the black shakudô monkey to the right and the deliberately applied shakudô plug of the hitsu-ana to the left. The moon is found on the very left bottom of the omote and please note also the delicate sukinokoshi-mimi at the bottom right area which is a continuation of the rock on which the monkey sits. That means with this and the small gilded bamboo grass elements, the artist obviously tried to make the monkey not appear as if he is sitting somewhere on a high cliff which would make his attempt of „catching the moon“ innately impossible. Thus this small detail also shows the attentiveness of Chinkyû regarding the effect and impression of his motif. There is also a different approach to this motif where the monkey hangs down from a branch with one hand trying to catch with the other one the moon in the water which is depicted more or less directly beneath him.

Picture 5: Detail of all three monkeys.

So the enko-hogetsu motif forges an interesting bridge between Chinkyû´s early period and his full artistic maturity when he was already training his student Yasuchika. And when we give free reign to our imagination we might assume that Chinkyû had this table screen somewhere at his home, seeing it every time when writing and having him inspired to use the very same motif for some of his tsuba. Maybe he still had and used this table screen later in his life and he once again decided to make a tsuba with a motif so familiar to him…

(Source: Markus Sesko)

Mei/signature:
Mumei, possibly a work of
Satô Chinkyû (佐藤珍久) /
Nara Toshiharu

School/province:
Shônai / Nara school

Period/age:
1593-1981

Measures:
9.05 cm x 8.75 cm x 0.60 cm
249 grams

Certificate:
No

Included:
NO kiri box included

Iron, mokkōgata, image of pine tree and waves under the moon. Crescent moon in silver inlay, with the pine tree in brass or copper inlay. Small inlays of varying metals on the water representing sails. Fine carving of clouds at the top of the tsuba. One hitsu-ana.

This tsuba is in very, very nice condition.

(Gotô) Ichijô School. If we study study this tsuba, we recognize the color and texture of the base iron, the mokko-gata shape of tsuba and shape of the raised mimi, the simple use of gold and silver, no use of sukashi. Especially hitsu-ana is indeed very typical for Ichijô school in style and shape as well.

Here are two examples in iron from MFA to compare with:
Ref #1: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/12166/tsuba-with-design-of-pineneedles-and-snowflakes?ctx=f2ef1db6-2a36-41b4-85e1-3e017a5e7b67&idx=9
Ref #2: https://collections.mfa.org/objects/11434/tsuba-with-design-of-dragonflies-reeds-and-streams?ctx=f2ef1db6-2a36-41b4-85e1-3e017a5e7b67&idx=6

Furthermore, to support this idea, there exist a tsuba with almost same motif depicting pine trees, water and sails. The sails are even shaped in exact same way and the simple use of silver together with the color and texture of iron, subtle carving and mokko-gata shape with raised mimi again seems quite comparable supporting the idea of Ichijô School . To support the idea even more, this tsuba is made by Yoshimura Ikkei whom moved to Kyoto where he became a pupil of Goto Ichijo in 1847 and then returned to Saga in 1857.
Ref #3: https://www.giuseppepiva.com/en/works/tsuba-depicting-mount-fuj-yoshimura-ikkei-1819-1867

This tsuba is very certainly not made Gotô Ichijô himself, but most likely a student of Gotô Ichijô/Ichijô school. Unfortunately this work bears no signature and therefore impossible for us to determine a specific artist.

Goto Ichijo was a scholar of the Goto Hachirobei (Waki Goto) line. Born in 1791 he was mainly working in Kyoto even though he was called to Edo by the Bakufu and worked there for about eleven years. He became one the most famous Kinko masters. However, it is said that he died in poverty refusing to create anything else but Kodogu items, which were not needed anymore after the abolition of swords. Many of his pupils became famous masters themselves such as Funada Ikkin, Hashimoto Isshi, Wada Isshin, Araki Tomei and others.

Mei/signature:
Mumei

School/province:
(Gotô) Ichijô School

Period/age:
Late Edo

Measures:
5.80 cm x 5.20 cm x 0.35 cm

Certificate:
No

Included:
NO kiri box included

Iron, maru-gata, with intricate design of lattice, interwoven with arabesques, floral patterns and intermittent piercings in the latticework. At one point the tsuba may have been entirely decorated with gold inlay, but most of the gold inlay work has been lost, which is not unusual for a tsuba with some age.

Also notice this tsuba have some very nicely done inlaid floral decorations (possibly shakudō) at the four cardinal points of the tsuba which emphasizes the high quality workmanship.

Name looks well-done and mei is good.

Zensuke Tomotsune was a highly-regarded smith from Chōshū, and a retainer of the Mōri clan. Robert Haynes says this about Tomotsune; “he is considered first among all the Chōshū workers“.

Mei/signature:
Omote:
長門國萩住
Ura:
中井善助

Omote:
Nagato-no-kuni Hagi-jū Nakai Zensuke
Ura:
Tomotsune-saku

School/province:
Chōshū

Period/age:
Edo

Measures:
8.60 cm x 8.55 cm x 0.40 cm

Certificate:
No

Included:
NO kiri box included

Iron, tatemaru-gata shaped, with surface of hammer mark texture decorated with diamond-shaped flower petals, and gold inlay on the rim.

Signed by Shōami Masanori, a metalworker from the late 17^th century to the early 18^th century. This tsuba exemplifies the wabi-sabi aesthetic of understated, almost rustic elegance, asymmetric in design, and deliberate in its imperfections.

Note:
The final character of the artist’s name is rendered almost unreadable, but the bit remaining, as well as the “Jōshū Nishijin” on the right of the nakago ana, as well as the fact that this is signed on the reverse side, all point to Masanori. It may have been Jōshū Nishijin-ju (or Nishijin-jūnin), with the final characters being obscured by the tagane marks and the sekigane. In any event, the characters and the syntax is correct for this smith, so I don’t have any reason to suspect this signature. Actually there were two Masanori smiths who signed this way (a father and son). The theme and the work seems to be a Muromachi-revival style, as if the smith was trying to evoke an older era.

Masanori is quite high regarded and is one of the few signed his works and that can be attributed to the Kyo-Shoami group and is well-documented. There is also a dated versions of a Masanori tsuba which is from 1701, and another one from 1702. Unfortunately those dates don’t help us determine if this Tsuba is Masanori 1st or 2nd. Anyway, in my opinion the appearance, steel etc., indeed looks old enough to be mid-1600s, so my feeling this is a work of Masanori 1st.

Another interesting fact. Marcus Sesko points out, Masanori was the first Shoami smith to sign with his own name.

Mei/signature:
城州西陣 正阿弥政徳
Jōshū Nishijin Shōami Masanori

School/province:
Shōami

Period/age:
Late Momoyama to early Edo period

Measures:
6.60 cm x 6.10 cm x 0.35 cm at nakago-ana and 0.70 cm at mimi.

Certificate:
No

Included:
NO kiri box included

Iron, jūnimokkō-gata tsuba with images of twelve family crests in sukashi, in small circles arranged around the perimeter of the tsuba. Higo, after Hayashi.

References to be compared with:
– https://eirakudo.shop/tosogu/tsuba/detail/322421
– https://collections.mfa.org/objects/11298/tsuba-with-design-of-twelve-moncrests;jsessionid=D8AF35E675A89CD56FB2425CAF4576E6
– https://iidakoendo.com/9589/

Mei/signature: Mumei (Hayashi)
School/province: Higo Hayashi
Period/age: Edo
Measures: 6.80 cm x 6.70 cm x 0.55 cm
Certificate: No
Included: NO kiri box included

Jōi (1701-1781) Iron tsuba, mokkō-gata, with image of Shoki the demon queller on the front, and demon on the back. Low relief carving with gold and silver inlay.  Jōi studied under one of the greatest metalsmiths of the Edo era, Nara Toshinaga, and is regarded as an exceptional smith.

The artist Jōi (乗意), real name Nara Tashichi (奈良太七), later Sugiura Sen’emon (杉浦仙右衛門), was born in Genroku 14 (元禄, 1701) as son of a retainer of the Toda-Matsudaira family (戸田松平) in Mino province. Having arrived in Edo in the early years of the Kyōhō era (享保, 1716-1736), Jōi studied with the Nara School master Toshinaga (寿永). He signed with the name Nagaharu (永春) and the art names Issandō (一蝅堂) and Jōi (乗意) and died in Hōreki eleven (宝暦, 1761).

Ex. The Duncan Beresford Jones Collection.

Mei/signature:
乗意 Jōi

School/province: Nara
Period/age: Edo (1701-1781)
Measures: 8.60 cm x 8.00 cm x 0.40 cm
Certificate: No
Included: NO kiri box included

References to similar style Joi tsuba:

Museum of Fine Arts in Boston:
https://collections.mfa.org/objects/11785/tsuba-with-design-of-shoki-and-oni?ctx=45569d6e-1dfb-4a62-b659-0d7d7bb8016d&idx=875wdwd

Zacke:
https://www.zacke.at/auction/lot/621-sugiura-joi-an-iron-tsuba-depicting-kanzan-and-jittoku/?lot=55565

SHŌKI 鍾馗  – THE DEMON QUELLER
Shōki 鍾馗 is a deity from China’s Taoist pantheon who was depicted often in Edo-period (1615-1868) Japanese sculptures and paintings, but one who is today largely neglected. Legends about Shōki reportedly first appear in Tang-era (618-907) Chinese documents. The deity reached Japan by at least the late Heian Period (794 to 1185), for the oldest extant image of Shōki in Japan is a scroll at the Nara National Museum dated to the reign of Emperor Goshirakawa 後白河天皇 (1127-1192). Numerous legends surround Shōki in Japan and the West.

Shoki (Chinese, Zhong Kui), a great exorcist, was a popular deity in China from the middle of the Tang dynasty (618-906), and was known in Japan from the Kamakura period. He is said to have appeared in a dream to the ailing Chinese emperor Xuanzong (713-756), to whom he explained that he was a scholar who had committed suicide a century earlier for failing the imperial examinations, but out of gratitude for an honorable burial granted by an earlier emperor, he had vowed to rid the world of mischievous demons. The emperor, who recovered immediately from his illness, ordered a court painter to paint Zhong Kui just as he appeared in the dream. In Edo period Japan, images of Shoki were hung in homes for the Boys’ Festival on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month; some were painted red as talismans against smallpox. In Kuniyoshi’s striking image, Shoki, who grasps his sword as a small demon flees behind him, is depicted in a dynamic graphic style that resembles the brushwork of ink painting.

Sugata is a classic Nobuie mokko, pattern is tortoise (kikko) that Nobuie made so famous. Fine sukashi of axe and waterwheel complete the design.

The thickness on Nakago-ana/Seppa-dai is aprox. 2,5 mm with a striking and very beautiful niku-movement from seppa-dai to the mimi, reaching 5 mm at mimi.

Tekkotsu is nicely visible on the mimi. The tsuba has a soft, lovely feel and a pristine condition and patination.

Mei/signature:
Mumei (Kodai Nobuie)

School/province: Myochin
Period/age: Edo
Measures: 8.00 cm x 7.70 cm x 0.30 cm
Certificate: No
Included: NO kiri box included

Mei/signature: Mumei
School/province: Shoami
Period/age: Edo
Measures: 7.40 cm x 7.30 cm x 0.55 cm
Certificate: No
Included: NO kiri box included

Mei/signature: Mumei
School/province: Soten
Period/age: Edo
Measures: 7.80 cm x 7.20 cm x 0.49 cm
Certificate: No certificate
Included: NO kiri box included