A KAMIYOSHI SCHOOL TSUBA

Details

A KAMIYOSHI SCHOOL TSUBA
LATE EDO/EARLY MEIJI PERIOD (CIRCA 1850-1875), ATTRIBUTED TO KAMIYOSHI RAKUJU (1817-1884)

The oval iron plate is pierced with a crab, its body forming the washer platform (seppa-dai), the well-formed round edge and surface texture have color common to fine late Edo Higo tsuba--height 8.2cm., width 7.7cm., thickness 5mm.

Wood box with inscription by Sato Kanzan, dated summer, 1973.

Accompanied by a tokubetsu kicho certificate issued by the N.B.T.H.K., no. 165, dated April 15th, 1971.

Literature

N.B.T.H.K. (1952), p. 14, lower tsuba.
For an almost identical example by Kamiyoshi Fukanobu (1798-1851), see N.B.T.H.K. (1964), no. 315, p. 317.
One Hundred Masterpieces (1992), no. 53.

Lot Essay

This famous design was first conceived by the Owari sukashi masters of the late Muromachi period. From the evidence provided by the vestiges of the tagane marks at the top and bottom of the nakago-ana and the fine silky texture of the surface, this tsuba is attributed to Kamiyoshi Rakuju, the son of Fukanobu.