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

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An unpublished catalogue of the A. H. Church collection of Japanese sword-guards (tsuba) by Albert James Koop.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

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Tsuba in the shape of a bird and with karahana, or Chinese flowers

  • Literature notes

    Thick; of conventional bird outline; rough surface, encrusted in silver and gold with 10 karahana badges and light scrolls.

    Signed: Ki no Munemasa [Japanese text] and inscribed Hachimantarō no Hatomaru on-tachi no tsuba wo utsusu ("copying the guard of the Hatomaru or Dove sword of Hachimantarō.").

    This may be by Myōchin Munemasa II, XXVIth Master of the school, first half of the 18th century. The decoration is perhaps a later addition and in any case cannot have formed part of the ancient guard referred to, concerning which very little is known. Hachimantarō is the famous warrior Minamoto no Yoshiiye, late 12th century. Other copies of this guard are known (three in the Victoria and Albert Museum), plain or variously decorated, and bearing various signatures (not always genuine!) and often the same inscription as given above.
  • Details

    Associated place
    Asia Japan (place of creation)
    Date
    1st half of the 18th century
    Artist/maker
    possibly Myōchin Munemasa II (active c. 1850) (armourer)
    Myōchin School (active 16th - 19th century) (armourer)
    Associated people
    Minamoto no Yoshiie (1039 - 1106) (named on object)
    Material and technique
    iron, inlaid with silver and gold; tang-hole plugged with soft metal, probably copper
    Dimensions
    6.8 x 5.5 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.10082
  • Further reading

    Koop, Albert James, The A. H. Church Collection of Japanese Sword-Guards (Tsuba), 3 vols (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1929), no. 82

Glossary

tsuba

  • tsuba

    Japanese sword guard.

Location

    • currently in research collection

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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)

    Thick; of conventional bird outline; rough surface, encrusted in silver and gold with 10 karahana badges and light scrolls.

    Signed: Ki no Munemasa [Japanese text] and inscribed Hachimantarō no Hatomaru on-tachi no tsuba wo utsusu ("copying the guard of the Hatomaru or Dove sword of Hachimantarō.").

    This may be by Myōchin Munemasa II, XXVIth Master of the school, first half of the 18th century. The decoration is perhaps a later addition and in any case cannot have formed part of the ancient guard referred to, concerning which very little is known. Hachimantarō is the famous warrior Minamoto no Yoshiiye, late 12th century. Other copies of this guard are known (three in the Victoria and Albert Museum), plain or variously decorated, and bearing various signatures (not always genuine!) and often the same inscription as given above.
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