Kamiyoshi Tsuba (神吉鍔)

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Japanese Title: 笹竹図透図鍔 (shioridake sukashi no zu tsuba)      

Material: Iron (tetsu 鉄)      

Age:  Late Edo Period (江戸時代後期)          

Size:  7.7 X 8.2 cm, 5.0 mm at seppa-dai, 4.0 mm at rim

Signature:  mumei (無銘)   

Shape:  Nagamaru-gata （長丸形)                         

Surface Finish:  Migaki Ji (磨地)     

Attachment: NTHK-NPO Kantei-sho (鑑定書)

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This is iron with a smooth texture (tetsu migaki-ji 鉄磨地) sword handguard (tsuba 鐔) from Higo Province (肥後國). It is the work of the Kamiyoshi (神吉) School. I have seen this openwork design referenced in three different ways in Japanese.  The first is wind bamboo openwork (fuchiku-sukashi 風竹透).  The second reference is bent bamboo openwork (shioridake-sukashi 枝折竹透).  The third way is just as bamboo openwork (take-sukashi竹透).
Bamboo has long been admired by the Japanese culture for its strength, flexibility, and resilience to the almost constant punishment of the wind and snow during the cold Winter.  This original motif representative of the Hayashi School was developed by the 1st generation Hayashi School master Matashichi (又七) during the beginning of the Edo Period. He was the first generation of the Hayashi School to make tsuba on a full-time basis and codified many of the school's designs to be passed down from generation to generation in private design books.  The design information was later passed to the first-generation master of the Kamiyoshi School by the third master of the Hayashi School upon direct order from lord Hosakawa in the seventh year of the An’ei (安永) Era, 1778.
This tsuba was mounted for a long sword (katana 刀) and finished with two openings for accessories (ryohitsu 両櫃).  There is very specific pattern of small rectangular shaped punch marks around the (nakago hitsu-ana 中心櫃孔穴) consisting of four elements on the top and seven on the bottom characteristic of different members of Kamiyoshi School as many tsuba made by this school were not signed with a signature (mei 銘) by their maker.  This tsuba while unsigned might be the work of the 1st generation Kamiyoshi, Masatada (正忠) who lived from 1766-1820 CE based upon the overall workmanship and pattern of the punch marks.
The positive openwork (ji-sukashi 地透) design is done using a method of carved rounded openwork that incorporates the rim into the openwork design in a three-dimensional manor (marubori-sukashi 丸彫透).  The veins of the bamboo leaves are nicely defined with line carving (kebori 毛彫).  Both the design itself and the techniques used execute the design were often employed by the Kamiyoshi School.  The color of the iron patina is referred to as (yōkan 羊羹) a common jellied dessert made of red bean paste, agar, and sugar first developed and employed by the Hayashi (林) School and later transmitted to the Kamiyoshi School.
The tsuba was submitted to NTHK-NPO examination (shinsa 審査) on February 27, 2016.  It passed the shinsa with a point score of 74 with an attributed to the Kamiyoshi School and was issued a written appraisal (kanteisho 鑑定書), which is equivalent to the (Hozon Tōsōgu Kanteisho 保存刀装具鑑定書) papered issued by the NBTHK at the Japanese Sword Museum in Tokyo.  The school was based in the castle town of Kumamoto (熊本) capital of Higo Province and the artists were direct retainers of the Hosakawa family the feudal lord of the province.  The NTHK-NPO refers to the openwork design as small bamboo (sasa-dake zu 笹竹図) on the written appraisal paper.        

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Provenance:  Charles Foos Collection