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why such a small field of collectors and students are being split apart by arrogance and idiotic behaviour, I just do not understand.

One has to wonder if all the trouble is worth it.

Richard

Owari Sukashi tsuba, Hyoutan no Zugura 瓢箪の図柄

Owari sukashi tsuba 尾張透鍔. I believe this tsuba dates to the early Edo period (江戸初期時代). The iron is an excellent black colour with rich purple under tones and well forged with some fine surface texture. There are no tekkotsu but the mimi has some modulation. There are Ryohitsu Shitate (両櫃仕立) that are an interesting shape. The kozuka hitsu is large and elongated while the kogai hitsu is probably just for looks and may not have been used. It is an interetsing square design seen on Edo period Owari and Shoami tsuba. The mimi is large and broad and makes the tsuba look very powerful.

The design is Hyoutan no Zugura 瓢箪の図柄 or gourds theme. The 3 larger bodies of the fruit are at the bottom in the style of Kunisaki-ichi and the top is made up of the vines. Hyoutan were introduced to Japan during the early Jomon period and have been a part of Japanese life for over ten thousand years. Although sometimes grown for food, they have mainly been cultivated for use as vessels. This is a wonderful design and beautifully balanced.

The dimmensions are 71mm x 70mm x 7.6mm

The tsuba is on the smallish side and for a wakizashi, but the thickness  gives it a great sense of power.

Thank you for reading

Richard

The tsuba's mimi

ko-kinko-tsuba

Mumei Momoyama period Ko Kinko tsuba 無銘 桃山時代 古金工. The shape is Mokko gata 木瓜形, Shakudo construction. Shakudo nanako ji 赤銅 魚子地. This style of carving is known as Sukidashi Bori 鋤出彫 where the design is left after the metal has been carved away. The mini is Sukinonoshi 鋤残耳 and this means it is slightly raised. This is also a result of the carved surface. The nanako is fine. The condition of this tsuba is excellent. it is a fine example of Ko Kinko workmanship.

The theme is Akikusa no Zugara 秋草の図柄 or plants which flower in autumn. There are 3 varieties in this design and these include 菊 Kiku (Chrysanthemum), 撫子 Nadeshiko (Pink or Pink flower) and 竜胆 Rindou (Japanese Gentian). This style of work was common in Ko Mino, but the lack of depth in the carving excludes this group I think. The tsuba has been finished off with Kin Iroe 金色絵 in the form of golden droplets of water.

The dimensions are 67mm x 60mm x 3mm

ko kinko tsuba

There is NBTHK Kanteisho to Ko Kinko, and Hakogaki 箱書付 by Kanzan 寒山. The hakogaki reads as follows.

Front

太刀師 - Tachi shi

秋草文 鍔 - Akikusa mon Tsuba

Inside

木瓜形赤銅魚子地高彫両櫃孔 Mokko gata, Shakudo, Nanako Ji, Takabori, Ryohitsu ana - Quadrilobe shape, Shakudo surface with nanako, Carved, 2 hitsu ana.

無銘　太刀師 - Mumei Tachishi - Unsigned Tachi shi.

見事一 Migoto ichi - Excellent item.

昭和己酉夏 (Shouwa Tuchinoto Tori Natsu) - Summer, 1969

寒山誌 - Kanzan Shirusu with kao

Interestingly, Kanzan Sato has labelled this as Tachi-shi 太刀師. This is probably just due to the thinking from that time, and the fact that the shape is Mokko. Modern thinking of course places this style of tsuba as Ko Kinko.

ko-kinko-tsuba-hakogaki

Thanks for reading

Cheers

Richard

Yamagane Ko Kinko Kogai

Ko Kinko Kogai of Yamagane construction from the late Muromachi or Momoyama period 桃山時代. There are several remnants of lacquer on the Ji-ita. The nanako is fine. This is quite a large Kogai.

This theme is described as 自在鉤 - jizaikagi. This is a hook used to suspend cooking pots above the fire. The device enables a pot (nabe 鍋) or tea kettle (tetsubin 鉄瓶) to be suspended over a sunken hearth (irori 囲炉裏). It was called jizaikagi (lit. ‘free hook’) because the pothook was adjustable, allowing a pot to be lowered or raised away from the fire as required.

More sophisticated jizaikagi used two bamboo or metal poles (takesao 竹棹) but they also relied upon the principal of drag tension and the use of the saru. It is not known when the jizaikagi was invented but it was already in use in the Muromachi period. It was used in service buildings, vernacular houses (minka 民家) and tea houses (chashitsu 茶室). It is said to have been introduced into tea houses by Takeno Jouou 武野紹鴎 (1502-55), inspired by one he had seen in a rural house. The Warabite 蕨手 is small and simple and is carved.

jizai-kagi-kogai-detail

Dr. Torigoye Kazutaro dates these style of Kogai to the Hojo and Muromachi periods. This style of Kogai are also referred to as Jidai Kogai. In his book Toso Soran, Dr. Torigoye illustrates several Kogai in this style and all are similar in style and size. Due to the design of this item though, and the recorded history of the jizaikagi (made popular in the mid to late Muromachi period), it is safe to date this piece to the late Ashikaga period.

Size, Total length 230mm x Dô width 15mm and Sao width 7mm.

Jizaikagi reference from Jaanus. http://www.aisf.or.jp/%7Ejaanus/

This is I believe, an Umetada 埋忠 sukashi tsuba, possible the work of Umetada Tadatsugu 埋忠忠次. Maru Gata. The dominant feature of this tsuba is that it is finished with Kuro (black) Urushi 黒うるし. Probably made from around the time of the early Edo period, this tsuba also features Ryohitsu Shitate (両櫃仕立) that are an interesting shape. The Kogai hitsu is rather elongated and for the most part typical of the time, whist the Kozuka hitsu is quite bean shaped. Both hitsu have un-coloured sekigane. There are linear and small granular tekkotsu (鉄骨) in the mimi.

The dimensions are 79mm x 79mm x 3mm

Umetada Sukashi Tsuba

The design is typical of the Umetada group. Finished in a positive/negative sukashi seperated diagonaly. The Negative ‘In’ sukashi (陰透) shows the Kamon of the Hatakeyama clan (畠山氏, Hatakeyama-shi) Originally a branch of the Taira clan, and descended from Taira no Takamochi, after 1205 the Hatakeyama came to be descendants of the Ashikaga clan, who were in turn descended from Emperor Seiwa (850-880) and the Seiwa Genji branch of the Minamoto clan. *1 The Positive ‘Yo’ (陽) sukashi appears to be perhaps a water wheel or may be stylaised birds.

The black material covering tsuba is most likely a ‘poor mans’ urushi. This material covers the seppa-dai on one side, over the sekigane. Noted from a collector who specialises in pre Edo fittings, he said “I showed a similar tsuba to several people at the SF show, and the Japanese dealers said it was a ‘poor mans’ urushi. Essentially a mix of thin lacquer and black ash, or lacquer mixed with, or applied over pitch. It has a very granular feeling when it flakes-off because the ash clumps when mixed with the lacquer. My tsuba also dated to the Momoyama to early Edo, so I imagine that this material was used extensively during earlier periods, but just isn’t preserved very often because it was of such low quality…. a field dressing perhaps.” Seeing a tsuba with this much urushi, be it high quality or low as be the case in this instance is pretty rare in this day and age.

Umetada Sukashi Tsuba - Mimi

Robert Haynes writes in his auction catalogues of 1994, that this type of work was very typical of many of the Ko Umetada tsuba 古埋忠, and also of Umetada Tadatsugu who worked in the late 1600’s. Ogura Souemon who wrote Nihonto Koza, Kodogu Kantei volume 1 notes that this type of work was seen only by Tadatsugu. Tsuba made in Maru gata, un coloured testsu ji tsuba with one half in sukashi depicting such designs as wheels.

It is quite possible that this is the work of Tadatsugu, Mr Haynes states that signed works are rare while Ogura notes he signed in Nijimei. Both note that Tadatsugu was prolific in this style of positive/negitive Ji sukashi tsuba.

Thanks for reading

Richard

Dear all, I have just recently had some hakogaki produced for me by a lady, Junko Kolbe in Melbourne, Australia, Junko san specializes in calligraphy and other Japanese art. She has recently added hakogaki and I think can also do Sayagaki. Junko san has a fine hand as can be seen by the examples of two of my pieces below.

The ink is traditional Sumi and quite thick from most accounts, to deal with the absorbing nature of the wood. The pricing is also incredibly reasonable and the turn around time is prompt.

Junko san’s webiste is www.sumido.com.au where you can see many examples of her talent.

When I ordered these pieces, I did the translations, had therm checked and verified, then scanned the lids and did a layout the kanji where I thought the look most suited, and printed off these layouts for Junko san to follow. You can of course just let her use her own creativity as well. I also used the descriptions from either Kanteisho, or from books the items were published in.

I am really pleased with the way these turned out and am more than happy to recommend Junko Kolbe for this type of work.

Cheers

Richard

Toshô 刀匠  Ji Sukashi. Sankou no Zugura 三光の図柄

This is an interesting tsuba that was attributed to Toshô (刀匠) by the NBTHK in February 2008. This looks to be an old iron tusba, probably from the Muromachi or the Momoyama period 室町時代 - 桃山時代 at the latest. The plate is excellent and there is much tsuchime (槌目). There are also small tekkotsu (鉄骨) in the mimi. These are usual traits of Muromachi and Momoyama period Katchushi (甲冑師) and Tosho (刀匠) work. There is a single hitsu-ana (片櫃仕立 - Kata-hitsu shitate) for a Kozuka ana, which probably contained at oone stage, sekigane to protect the kozuka from the iron.

It is interesting that current thinkings could perhaps place this tsuba as Kô Katchushi. No raised mimi and large sukashi is thought to indicate Katchushi work whilst no raised mimi and small sukashi is Toshô.

The theme is described as Sankou no Zugura 三光の図柄. This represents ‘three heavenly lights’ the Sun (the main body of the tsuba), The Moon (the large sukashi) and Star (small sukashi at the bottom) are both represented in In-sukashi (陰透). Another possibility is that it may represent the family crest of Tsunagiduki (繋ぎ月). I guess one could argue that if the theme was the crest of the Tsunagiduki, then perhaps the sukashi was ordered to be added by a samurai of this family so as to be proudly displayed when the katana was worn.

Some have suggested this may also be a symbolised crane, with it’s two wings folded up around the seppa dai. I had considered this at one stage but have since discounted that theory.

tosho-moonshine-mimi

Now, the reason for the two different results. It has to do with the main sukashi that encompasses the seppa dai. It was thought by the NTHK that this was a latter addition, added in the Edô period and of course this is indeed a possibility although I have looked and looked, and I must admit I am not trained enough to be able to judge such a difference. They also agreed it is an old plate, suggesting Momoyama at the latest. Now as I understand it, the NTHK will attribute a tsuba to a group if they believe significant changes were done to the tsuba by that group, regardless of it’s origins. So in this case, they saw the large sukashi as a significant alteration, added in the mid Edô period by a Shôami artist. In this case, they believe the chisel marks in the sukashi walls gave away the clue as to when and by whom. Whether or not there are people who can judge chisel marks and attribute those marks to a specific group, I am unsure. What I personally believe however is that regardless of what, if anything, was done, by whom and when, it is still a Toshô tsuba.

There is a mind set that believes it is not really worth offering items for shinsa if they are unusual or not classic work for a group. So is this an incorrectly kantei’d Katchushi tsuba, an unusual Toshô tsuba, or an altered one ? After looking through the various works of Torigoye and Sasano, we see enough tsuba attributed to Toshô that have sukashi larger than the usual Mon or small openings for us to safely say that it is not inconceivable that this is in fact an original Toshô tsuba.

The reason for posting this information is to not pit one side against another, or to find fault in or to criticise anyone, far from it. I think my main reason for posting was to show that there is different thinking right throughout this field and just when we think something is what it should be, we are sent packing to the library again. In shinsa, we will not always get the answers we expect, but at the same time, we should not just blindly accept ideas we do not agree with. Its a long road we walk down. There are bound to be a few big hills, tight bends and pot holes along the way.

Thanks for reading

Richard

Heianjô Zôgan in shinchô zôgan

Heianjô Zôgan. Probably from the late Muromachi period 室町時代後期. Finished in shinchû zôgan 真鍮 象嵌, the theme is karakusa 唐草 (arabesques) and Sakura 桜 (cheery blossoms). Arabesques usually represent vines or plants of some kind but I wonder if in this instance, it appears that the cheery blossoms are flowing on swirls of water. Excellent Iron that is dense and well forged. The iron has the appearance of sand construction. The tsuba has 99.9% of it’s zogan intact.

This type of granular iron seems to be typical of earlier Heianjô work (more akin to Onin). Torigoye writes that generally, Heianjo iron is inferior to the Onin plate and has a softer appearance, excepting some of the earlier guards. He dates Heinajo as beginning in the Eisho period.

The single Kozuka hitsu 小柄櫃 is I believe original to the tsuba. There appears to be an area that has been removed for the addition of sekigane, probably lost in years long gone by. There is lead (namari) sekigane 鉛責金 in the nakago ana.

This tsuba appears to have clear lacquer on it, it is heavier in some sections that others and mutes the theme slightly giving it a milky appearance where it has been rubbed or worn over the years. It is not apparent on the seppa dai, the mimi and has worn away from the edges for about 5 mill (give or take) into the hira. This is the only tsuba I have seen like this to date.

The dimmensions are 86.5mm x 82mm x 3mm

This type of granular iron seems to be typical of earlier Heianjo work (more akin to Onin). Torigoye writes that generally, Heianjo iron is inferior to the Onin plate and has a softer appearance, excepting some of the earlier guards. He dates Heinajô as beginning in the Eishô period. I think this tsuba could be from between the Eishô´ period and the Momoyama Jidai.

This tsuba appears to have clear lacquer on it, it is heavier in some sections that others and mutes the theme slightly giving it a milky appearance where it has been rubbed or worn over the years. It is not apparent on the seppa dai, the mimi and has worn away from the edges for about 5 mill (give or take) into the hira. This is the only tsuba I have personally seen like this to date.

The dimensions are 86.5mm x 82mm x 3mm

Thanks for reading

Richard

Presented here is part 4 in the Robert Haynes series. A most interesting account of the life of Akiyama Kyusaku. Again, my most sincere thanks to Mr Haynes for allowing me to reproduce these articles.

Akiyama Kyusaku was born in 1843 (Tempo 14) (1) at Kochi in the province of Tosa (now Kochi Prefecture) on the island of Shikoku. Tosa had been given to the Daimyo Yamanouchi Kazutoyo in 1600, by Tokugawa Ieyasu, with income of 242,000 koku. At the time of the birth of Akiyama Sensei the province was administered by Yamanouchi Toyonobu (1827-1872). He was more commonly known by his pen name of Yodo. “He was the first, who on the advice of Goto Shojiro, wrote to the Shogun asking him to remit the government of the country to the Emperor”. (2) Akiyama Sensei, at the age of 9, was named as a kosho (child page) at the court of the Yamanouchi. He was thus trained in the manners and customs of the Daimyo aristocracy. In this position, he was given the privilege of wearing two swords. (3) It is said that he began his studies of tsuba at the age of 13 (1856). He studied by himself at that time. He used the available books, such as the SOKEN KISHO, MAMPO ZENSHO, and SHIN­PIN SUROKU. When he was 14 he saw the Americans in company with Lord Yamanouchi. He was 25 when the restoration (1867) took place. At the age of 26 he became the principle of Kainen gaku (school) in Tosa. He married and had his eldest son at age 27, who died in the Russo-Japanese War, as a Major, in Manchuria. He had several other chil­dren, two girls, and three boys who died young. At age 55 he became the head of the police force at Nara prefecture and was given the rank of Kodaken, fifth grade official rank. A position he held until his retirement a number of years later. From age 56, when he was not engaged in his official duties he was studying tsuba.

When he was 73 (1916) he published “TOBAN OSHIGATA SET­SUMEI (Explanation of Oshigata of Tsuba) maga­zine. (5) During his life time he had made about 10,000 oshigata of tsuba, in 22 volumes. They are now thought to be at the Yamanouchi family archives. (6) Akiyama is said to have wanted to destroy them on his death, but his family gave them to the Yamanouchi in recognition of his service with that family. Kawaguchi stated, “that at the last moment of his last breath he gave the volumes unre­servedly to the family”. Kawaguchi was the student of Akiyama Sensei when the master was about 72 years old (1915). When Akiyama was 82 years old, in 1925, Dr. Kazutaro Torigoye became his student. Akiyama Sensei lived at Ushigome ward in Tokyo at that time, and on his first visit Dr. Torigoye took ten to fifteen tsuba to show. Akiyama Sensei said that they were by and large, second class pieces and could be replaced in two or three days in Tokyo. He did pick up one sukashi tsuba from the group and said he liked that one very much. It was an old Kyo sukashi example. Dr. Torigoye offered it to him as a gift, which he accepted. Later, before Dr. Torigoye started his lessons, Akiyama Sensei sent him a gift of a first generation Bizen Suruga tsuba. The letter with the gift is dated April 21, 1926. (7) Dr. Torigoye studied with Akiyama Sensei for the next ten years. Akiyama Sensei had three collections in his life­time. The first two collections he did not keep for he felt they were inferior examples, and that he could learn nothing more from them. The third collection was about fifty pieces that he gave to the head of the Yamanouchi family on his death.

He did not put his tsuba in boxes, where he could not see them. He had a board that hung on the post of his tokonoma with about six to ten pegs in it. When one of the tsuba that was on view would not come up to the high aesthetic standards that Akiyama Sensei demanded of his collection, it would be replaced with another, until he felt all the examples were of equal quality in his eyes. Those that remained in his collection at the time of his death were as fine a group of his class tsuba as 80 years of experience and study would allow.

At the age of 58 he began to write articles for ‘the TOKEN KAI-SHI (the journal of the CHUO TOKEN KAI) (8). He continued these articles until his death in 1936. They concerned a large range of subjects, though mostly in the form of thoughts and notes on various areas of tsuba, history, swords, and what ever else came to his recollections. At the age of 81 to 83 he disclosed his theories about sukashi tsuba, Kaneie, and Nobuie. In 1926, at age 83, he published the NOBIYE TSUBA SHU of the Nakamura rubbings of 143 Nobuie tsuba.

He did not believe in societies and group teach­ing. He preferred to study alone, or with a single stu­dent. He did like to discuss tsuba, and many other areas of art, with a small, but select group of friends. Though today most of what Akiyama Sensei wrote or proposed as ideas on many areas of the study of tsuba are taken to be the last word on each subject, he was far from sure that his ideas were to be without reservation. A classic example is the term we use today of KO-HAGI TSUBA. A student came to Akiyama with a very old tsuba with kiku and leaves in sukashi. Akiyama Sensei said to the stu­dent that, “if there were such a thing as old Choshu tsuba this piece is probably what they would have looked like”. Inamura Choga, another student, heard this and went on to say that this style of tsuba WAS KO-HAGI, removing all of the qualifiers that Akiyama Sensei had put into his statement.

This happened in many other cases with his ideas. Kawaguchi thought that Akiyama Sensei was seriously considering the idea that there were nine generation of the Kaneie school. He did not mean this statement to be interpreted as proven fact. He was only thinking that because a tsuba is signed, “I am the 9th generation Kaneie”, that it was an inter­esting area to study, IF the signature were true. It is a shame that the ideas of Akiyama Sensei have become so distorted with time.

In the 93 years of his life he lived longer than many of the famous artists of his period, such as Unno Shomin, also born in 1843, who died 1915. Goto Ichijo died when Akiyama Sensei was 33. Hagiya Katsuhira died when he was 41. Kano Natsuo died when he was age 55. In fact he outlived all the great artists of the late Edo to Showa period. It is interesting in his writings that he has so little to say about the ability of his contemporaries or about their art. He did not much care for the work of the late kinko artists and the tsuba that were made in his life time he dismissed for the most part. His interest lay in the tsuba produced in the Muromachi to the Genroku period. A few selections from his articles in the Token Kai-shi Journal should be of interest to the student today. In the March 1908 issue he writes: (9) “I went lately to Osaka and I saw my oId friends and some curio dealers, and found that several had moved or were dead. I was fortunate enough to see several (remaining) shops and to obtain more than twenty pieces. Candidly, I was obliged to buy, as a guide was kind enough to take me round. I gave trouble to the shop keepers, but not a piece can I be proud of to show to my friends (it is giri-kai, i.e. duty buying). The Yamanaka shop is an old well known establishment that had many things for sale, the staff was very courteous, I was treated better than I ought to, and I regret that I could not see even half the stock as I was in a hurry to come home, and I thought I would have a chance to go again. This shop is very famous among foreigners and natives, and is worth visiting. Then I went to Kyoto, and vis­ited Kishimoto, the shop is at Yanagibaba oike, where my oId teacher and friend Gensuke lived. It was in this house that many of my queries were set­tled. I am very sorry that he is dead. His son is a very cleaver man, improving the business with more stock than his father. Then I went to Nagaoya as I knew Asahina & Sons. I was welcomed and treated like a great man and they asked many questions for study. This is one of the largest shops in the country. Then I went to Okazaki, I used to live there one year, about 18 years ago. It is quite changed. There was no Doguya who I had known, but fortunately two ama­teurs, Watanabe and Inuzuka, were able to show me several fine things from which I learned very much, and I thanked them, but I could not buy anything there. On this trip I bought a manuscript titled, MEIBUTSU TSUBA KOSAKU SHU, dated Bunsei 9 (1826) in September. Although not a very old work, yet the Akasaka family is mentioned up to Sandai Tadatoki. In this book there are several very strange opinions!” He then goes on to outline these strange ideas and what he thinks of them with only slight comment.

In a 1905 article he says: “The articles Zakan issoku (?) (this series of articles) have already appeared in 80 numbers, chiefly irregulatory (sic ?) talk, there are many articles which should be rubbed off, and few worth keeping, and I wish I could have a rest for a little this year. My oshigata collected dur­ing the last 50 years (this would mean that he made his first oshigata at age 21) are about 3,000, which is less than one tenth of all the tsuba I have seen, (this would mean that at age 62 Akiyama had seen about 30,000 tsuba) and I wish to arrange them in order according to periods and schools, but I have a very bad habit since my young days that I never fin­ish anything yet. I am afraid it may end in a bad result like the poem by Kagawa Keiju, ‘Ikutabi ka omoi sadamete kawaruran asasora tashiki waga kokoro kana’, (which means) ‘often decided and often changed, it is dreadful to my mind’. Since I became a retired man I have made a study of tsuba in some years and in others I studied kodogu. Last year I was very keen in furnishing swords. My inten­tion this year is a very difficult study (he does not say what study) it seems useless labor, but there is great interest in it.” These selections from his writ­ings I hope will give you some idea of the workings of the mind of Akiyama Sensei.

Akiyama Kyusaku Daishodai Sensei (10) died January 21, 1936 at the age of 93. Kawaguchi Noboru died in 1964. Dr. Kazutaro Torigoye died September 18, 1980, at the age of 87. Akiyama Koenji was the grandson of Akiyama Kyusaku. He was living in Tokyo in 1961, at the age of about 60. He had no interest in tsuba.

(1) I do not have the day and month of the birth of Akiyama.
(2) E. Papinot, Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan. Charles E. Tutle Col, 1972, page 746.
(3) In later life Akiyama was photographed wearing swords to show the proper method. He mounted his swords to his taste. Iron tsuba and fuchi kashira by such as the first Yasuchika.
(5) This magazine seems to be unknown.
(6) Dr. Torigoye said this about the collection of oshigata. He said that Akiyama gave the 22 volumes to him, and they were destroyed when the house of Dr. Torigoye was burned at Okayama in a bombing raid.
(7) When a student of Dr. Torigoye I saw this letter in 1961.
(8) The Joly translation dates from January 1901 to his death in 1919. From 1920 to 1936 should be translated for all.
(9) These quotes are from the H.L. Joly handwritten manuscript translation of the TOKEN KAI-SHI from January 1901 to 1919.
(10) I have given the title of DAISHODAI to Akiyama Sensei. It is taken from the designation of the “Joshu” Kaneie having that term applied to the first generation of artists. See also the Harry Afu Watson translation of volume 6 of the Nihon To Koza, page 22, under Kaneie, line 18, where the term is translated as, “Patriarch or Grand Master”, which I think befits Akiyama Sensei.

Bizen Suruga sukashi tsuba

Bizen Suruga 備前 駿河 sukashi tsuba. Testu Ji sukashi 鉄地透, The shape is Mokko gata 木瓜形, The mimi is Kaku mimi koniku 小肉角耳. The hitsu ana are enlongated and have the appearance of earlier work. I think this tsuba would date to the early Edo period. and in the style of the first or second master, both of whom worked in the Katchu style.

This school was a branch of the Haruta school living in the Suruga province. The earliest Suruga guards have their roots in the late 1500’s and guards by the first generation Takutsugu 卓次 (1) worked primarily in the Katchushi style and as a result, his works are unsigned. The second Iyetsugu 家次 signed Bizen Sugura and Bizen Koku no Ju Sugura. After about the sixth, the later generations followed the style of the Bushu Ito group rather than the original Suruga style. This group worked throughout the Edo period. There were not many tsubako working in the Bizen area.

The design of this tsuba is very interesting and appears to be made up of Hanabishi 花菱, a flower shaped family crest. This comprises the main body of the tsuba. The mimi looks to be a mixtire of Warabi 蕨 (bracken) and 4 circles which could represented waterdrops. There are 4 Chidori 千鳥 (plover) also with each sitting in the centre of the 4 leaves of the flower. Overall it is a very strong desing and quite powerfull.

The dimensions are 8.0 cm x 7.9 cm x 0.5 cm.

Notes:
1: In the English Nihonto Koza Vol 6, the first is listed as Sadatsugu 貞次. I believe this may be an error in translation and the correct name of the first master is Takutsugu 卓次.

Kaku mimi koniku 小肉角耳