Details
A MUKADE TSUBA AND SEVEN OTHERS
Edo period (17th/19th century)
A huge mokko iron mukade tsuba, the edge of each face inlaid with a brass band, within which is a steel rod, following the mokko-shape of the edge and retained by alternating bent rods of iron and brass, 12.1cm.; an iron tsuba in the form of a gunbai [general's fan], carved and inlaid on one face with a gold sun and a silver moon, each partly concealed by a small cloud, beneath which is an inscription inlaid in sentoku: 'Immovable as a mountain', the reverse with a constellation, inlaid in brass and silver, 8.35cm.; a circular iron tsuba pierced and carved with insects among grasses, signed Choshu Hagi no ju nyudo Sakunoshin Tomohisa saku, the design by Chikatomo 'aged 82', 7.2cm.; a tsuba with a wavy plate, inlaid on the face in silver with the Nichiren chant 'Namu myoho Renge Kyo' and, on the reverse, an axe inlaid in silver and brass hirazogan and the inscription shoyo onteki kai shitsu saimetsu - a prayer for the death of a hated enemy, 7.9cm; an almost circular iron tsuba pierced with four bonji characters, signed Inshu no ju Suruga saku and stating that it was made when he was 82 years old, 7cm.; an iron tsuba, pierced with clouds and a pine tree, signed Bamen Tsunemasa, 7.35cm.; a hexagonal, slightly cup-shaped iron tsuba carved on the face with two elephants, the tusks and the rim of the tsuba in gold nunome-zogan, the reverse with two dragons in gold and a key-fret border in silver nunome-zogan, Hizen school, 8.8cm.; and a circular iron tsuba carved and inlaid on the face in high relief with Kadori Myojin clutching a huge gourd as a namazu buries into the ground beneath his feet, 8cm. (8)
Literature
The second, Henri L. Joly, W. L. Behrens Collection, pt. III, Sword-fittings (London, 1912), no. 2244
The eighth, Henri L. Joly and K. Tomita, Japanese Art and Handicraft: Loan Exhibition Held in Aid of the British Red Cross (London, 1916), no. 79, pl. CVI
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