The snow is falling quietly
On ducks that swim in pairs
In the old dark pond …
Shiki
Today our story about tsubah will be devoted to the tsubako schools, that is, the masters who made them. And, it should be noted that this topic is infinitely complex, and here's why. It is known that there were recognized masters who had their own characteristic handwriting and they just laid the foundation for many schools. But … many tsubas were made by their students, many were envious neighbors, authors of very similar fakes. And how can you tell what is in front of you: an early tsuba of the Myotin family master, one of their students' tsuba, a copy or a fake, made by a cheaper master on the order of a poorer samurai? And the masters made the repetitions of the works of other schools they liked on a completely legal basis - he is a master with a name, whatever I want, I will do it, but I will put my signature. And here you have to guess - is this a fake or "it was so conceived"? In a word, if everything is more or less clear with technologies and styles, then with schools the situation is much more difficult, besides there are more than 60 of them!
Let's start with the most famous, the Myotin family, a leader in the manufacture of armor in Japan since the 12th century. However, the frame for the sword was first made by Nobue, the 17th "by number" master of this family, who lived in the 16th century. The problem of identifying his work is complicated by the fact that he used as many as seven spellings of his signature. His tsuba are called so - "tsuba Nobue". Then his work was continued by his descendants, who worked on tsubas until the 19th century.
Tsuba "Three Tadpoles" by Master Nobue. It is now believed that Nobue specialized in Owari-style tsubah during the Azuchi-Momoyama era. His products are distinguished by their beauty and grace, durable patina and iron with a pronounced tekkotsu texture. This photograph shows his tsuba with three tadpoles inside a circle and small chrysanthemums carved in high relief on each of them. Belonged to the Kuroda family. XVI century Shape - a circle with a diameter of 8, 5 - 8, 45 cm.
The Hoan School also got its name from the master, whose name was Saburoe Hoan, and he was even the son of the owner of a small castle! I used different technologies in my work. The first is yakite-kusarashi - acid etching. The second technology is yaki-namasi, metal melting under strong heating, due to which the surface of the tsuba became uneven, had traces of melting and a red-violet patina. The third is the sukashi slitting technique.
Tsuba "Waterwheel" signed by Master Hoan, Momoyama era. The depiction of a stylized water wheel was a favorite motif of this master in the sukashi technique. (Tokyo National Museum)
The Yamakichi school in Owari province, founded by Yamasaka Kitibey, specialized first in thin tsubas, and then in thicker and more massive o-tachi for two-handed swords. It is believed that since the tsubas of this school were made by as many as seven generations of craftsmen, they are … most often forged. They are very good! Very often they depict a cut sakura flower.
Sometimes tsuba was made by two masters at once and, accordingly, two signatures were put on it. For example, this tsuba was signed by the master Kano Natsuo (1828–1898), that is, he forged it. However, it was decorated by the master Toshioshi, who completed this work sometime after 1865. Materials: copper-silver alloy Shibuichi, copper-gold alloy shakudo, gold, silver, copper. Length 7 cm, width 6 cm, thickness 0.5 cm. Weight: 121, 9 g. Obverse. (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The same tsuba is a reverse.
Tsuba by Yoshida Mitsunaka, 19th century Materials: iron, silver, copper. Diameter 8.3 cm, thickness 0.5 cm, Weight: 136.1 g (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Since there are a lot of tsubako schools, it is absolutely unthinkable to describe all of them, and even a significant part of them in a popular article, and even show samples of their work, so it makes sense to limit their number to the most famous, popular and most common ones.
Among such schools is the Shoami school, which in translation means "someone talented in the arts." The school originated at the end of the Muromachi era, and its products were not signed at first. Here the era of civil wars ended and the Edo period of peace began. The samurai immediately wanted more beautiful things than before, which was reflected in the decor of the weapons.
The masters of the Shoami school worked in different provinces and everywhere introduced something new and their own into this style. Therefore, the forms of tsub shoami are very diverse. They are so diverse that the Japanese themselves joke: "If you don't know what to call it, say shoami!" So many masters worked in this style at the end of the Edo period that today it is simply impossible to make out where the "real shoami" is, and where is its fake. However, we must pay tribute to the Japanese masters of forgeries - they are all quite beautiful.
The main distinguishing feature of tsuba Shoami is the technology of inlaying the surface of tsuba with gold, silver and copper over iron and bronze. Moreover, a whole picture was created, completely filling all the free space of the tsuba. The inlay was complemented by openwork carving and rim decoration, which was usually not observed on tsubas of other schools. For example, the "Deer" tsuba, which looks very rich due to the fact that free metal is practically invisible on it, and the images on it are intertwined with leaves, stems and flowers and are made in gold using the nunome-zogan technique!
Tsuba "Deer", Shoami style. Around 1615-1868 Materials: iron, gold, copper. Diameter 8, 1 cm, thickness 0.5 cm. Weight 170, 1 g (Metropolitan Museum, New York)
Determining the belonging of a particular tsuba is often made difficult by the signature on it. For example, this iron tsuba with carved images of eight samurai monks surrounded by caracus - grape shoots. This type belongs to the Yoshiro style of the Kaga school (17th century). But the signature on it is Tachibana Krisumi and it is necessary to find out who it is - the master of this school or one of its imitators. And to find out such details related to such distant times is very difficult.
"Tsuba with the Monks". Master Tachiban Krisumi. The era of Momoyama. (Tokyo National Museum)
In the province of Higo, there were many schools, among which one - the Shimizu school, founded by the master Jingo, differed from all others for its characteristic tsubami with images of birds and, above all, hunting falcons, beloved by samurai. And here we have one of these tsubs. However, it is not signed. And the question arises for all its similarity with the works of this school - is it she or not? It is believed that the hallmark of Jingo himself was the square (?) Hitsu-ana hole on the left. On this tsuba, it is "normal". And the question is - is this a creative development of the plot or a fake?
Tsuba "Kite", XVII century. Obverse. (Tokyo National Museum)
The same tsuba is a reverse.
One of the many tsubako schools was the Ito school, founded again in the province of Owari Ito Masatsugu. The style of the school was characterized by cut ornaments, which were made using steel wire dipped in oil and sprinkled with the finest abrasive. They drilled a thin hole in the tsuba, inserted a wire into it, and sawed it like this! For some reason, one of the popular motives was a labyrinth. In addition, the most complex ornament inlaid with gold was made on the surface of the tsuba.
In the peacetime of Edo, tsuba with images of warriors in traditional weapons began to be very popular, as it is not surprising. So, at the end of the 17th century. the school of Hundreds arose, characteristic of tsubami with complex compositions on battle and religious themes. Another characteristic feature of her tsub was the high relief, almost sculptural, that is, deep carving combined with through perforation. Because of this, they were thicker and heavier than usual, but in peacetime they put up with it. On some tsuba there was less of it, on some more, but in general, if you see a tsuba on which “horses, people are mixed in a heap, and there is a lot of gold inlay, then this is undoubtedly a tsuba of the School of Hundreds or a fake for it, because a high demand always gives rise to an increased supply. It is known that there were two masters with this name and their works differ. In addition, at least 25 students of this school are known who signed works of the style of "Hundred" with their own names, and countless students of students who, on the contrary, signed "Hundred" or … did not sign at all! The tsuba shape is quite traditional - a circle, an oval or a mocha shape. But the main thing is the multi-figured plot compositions and the use of inlay with copper, silver, gold and shakudo alloy.
Tsuba "Battle" with a multi-figure composition in the style of the Hundred School. XVIII century Materials: iron, gold, silver, bronze, copper. Length 7.9 cm, width 7.5 cm. Thickness: 1 cm. Weight: 133.2 g (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
The same tsuba is a reverse.
And now, towards the end, we will list at least some of the famous schools of tsubako masters: these are Kinai, Goto, Yoshioka, Yokoya, Mito, Yanagawa, Ishiguro, Hamano, Omori, Shonai, Hirata and many others. That is, it was a whole world of its own, in which many … thousands of people lived for several centuries, who mined metal, forged, sharpened, engraved, minted and polished. Some master did the whole tsuba from start to finish, someone was helped. Some were done arbitrarily, some were discussed for a long time and persistently with the customer, until both parties were satisfied with the result and the price!
Tsuba "Water Dragon", the Goto school, distinguished by the fact that it worked with soft non-ferrous metals. Master Hobashi Mune Kawashita. Edo era.
