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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.
Publications online: 1264 objects
Round tsuba with interlacing rings and leaves
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Literature notes
Symmetrically pierced, with slight modelling, as a large pattern of slender interlacing rings within the stout border; the latter covered on each face with leaves and tendrils in silver nunome.
Signed: Yoshū Matsuyama ("of M. in Iyo province") Moriyama [Japanese text] Shōami Kanemichi [Japanese text], and, on the back, Morikuni [Japanese text] kore wo saku, with date Kiōhō XII (1727), 6th month.
Apparently Moriyama is a surname of Kanemichi, one of the artists responsible for the guard, the other being Morikuni. Shōami is, after all, an art-name (of Buddhistic flavor) first, and a surname afterwards.
Wada (p.69) quotes various dated guards by Morikuni, of Yenki III (1746), Kiōhō XI (1726), etc. Kanemichi, however, he does not mention. -
Details
- Associated place
- Date
- 1727
- Artist/maker
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Shōami Morikuni (active first half of the 18th century) (armourer)Shōami School (active 1601 - 1909) (armourer)Iyo-Shōami (possibly active 1601 - 1909) (armourer)
- Material and technique
- iron, with cut and filed openwork decoration, and silver nunome-zōgan decoration; tang-hole plugged with soft metal, probably copper
- Dimensions
- 9.6 x 9.6 cm (height x width)
- Material index
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processed material › metal › iron,
- Technique index
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cut,
- Object type index
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arms/armour › koshirae › kodogu › tsuba
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by Sir Arthur H. Church, 1915.
- Accession no.
- EAX.10249
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Further reading
Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 249
Glossary (2)
nunome-zōgan, tsuba
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nunome-zōgan
Decorative application of metal sheeting (generally of gold or silver) where the iron ground is first cross-hatched and the metal burnished on.
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tsuba
Japanese sword guard.
Location
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- 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)
Symmetrically pierced, with slight modelling, as a large pattern of slender interlacing rings within the stout border; the latter covered on each face with leaves and tendrils in silver nunome.
Signed: Yoshū Matsuyama ("of M. in Iyo province") Moriyama [Japanese text] Shōami Kanemichi [Japanese text], and, on the back, Morikuni [Japanese text] kore wo saku, with date Kiōhō XII (1727), 6th month.
Apparently Moriyama is a surname of Kanemichi, one of the artists responsible for the guard, the other being Morikuni. Shōami is, after all, an art-name (of Buddhistic flavor) first, and a surname afterwards.
Wada (p.69) quotes various dated guards by Morikuni, of Yenki III (1746), Kiōhō XI (1726), etc. Kanemichi, however, he does not mention.
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