Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

Ashmolean − Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)

An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.

The A.H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba) by Albert James Koop

Publications online: 1264 objects

Reference URL

Actions

Send e-mail

Contact us about this object

Send e-mail

Send to a friend

Tsuba with maple branch and tanzaku, or poem card, with a poem by Sugawara no Michizane

  • Literature notes

    Four-lobed (but not mokkō), with hammered-up edge; on each face, in low relief with gold inlay, is a branch of maple above, with a few falling leaves; on the front is also, in gold and silver incrustation, a tanzaku (long card for writing poems on) engraved with a poem on the subject. Signed: Hakuō (as last) saku.

    The poem, written by the famous statesman Sugawara no Michizane (d. AD. 903), runs as follows:

    Kono tabi wa Though this time I bring
    nusa mo tori-aezu no offerings of cloth,
    Tamuke-yama May the gods take to their
    momiji no nishiki hearts' content
    kami no mani-mani Of the damask of the maple leaves on Mount Tamuke.

    It was incorporated in Kokinshū, an anthology of over 1100 poems compiled between 905 and 922.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    19th century (1801 - 1900)
    Material and technique
    obverse and reverse: iron, with hammered-up edge, and inlaid with gold; tang-hole plugged with soft metal, probably copper obverse: inlaid with silver
    Dimensions
    7.4 x 6.5 cm (height x width)
    Material index
    Technique index
    Object type index
    No. of items
    1
    Credit line
    Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
    Accession no.
    EAX.10908.a
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 908 a

Glossary

tsuba

  • tsuba

    Japanese sword guard.

Location

    • currently in research collection

Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.

 

Publications online

  • The A.H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba) by Albert James Koop

    The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba)

    Four-lobed (but not mokkō), with hammered-up edge; on each face, in low relief with gold inlay, is a branch of maple above, with a few falling leaves; on the front is also, in gold and silver incrustation, a tanzaku (long card for writing poems on) engraved with a poem on the subject. Signed: Hakuō (as last) saku.

    The poem, written by the famous statesman Sugawara no Michizane (d. AD. 903), runs as follows:

    Kono tabi wa Though this time I bring
    nusa mo tori-aezu no offerings of cloth,
    Tamuke-yama May the gods take to their
    momiji no nishiki hearts' content
    kami no mani-mani Of the damask of the maple leaves on Mount Tamuke.

    It was incorporated in Kokinshū, an anthology of over 1100 poems compiled between 905 and 922.
Notice

Object information may not accurately reflect the actual contents of the original publication, since our online objects contain current information held in our collections database. Click on 'buy this publication' to purchase printed versions of our online publications, where available, or contact the Jameel Study Centre to arrange access to books on our collections that are now out of print.

© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum