Tsuba

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Guys, I have a collection of Japanese swords and Tsubas etc coming up in my March 11th sale at work.

I thought this one was rather nice and that I would share it with you here.

Cheers, Ade.

[ghp95134]

Nice tsuba. Is that a depiction of Yoshitsune and Benkei battling on the bridge?

兼光作
Kanemitsu saku
Made by Kanemitsu


-- Guy

[ghp95134]

Oh, I guess not ... I see three heads.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Thanks Guy.

Just working my way through this collection now at work. This one is really large.

[ghp95134]

Hi Ade,

Not sure about my reading. It looks to be either
青政
Aomasa

or

清政
Kiyomasa

It looks more like 青, but I really don't know. I've checked both names in a generic google search "name + tsuba" in both Japanese and English, but came up empty.

Hopefully one of the forum's resident SMEs will know. (Subject Matter Expert)

Cheers,
-- Guy

[Akira Komiya]

Guy-san:
I believe the artisan's name is 福田寿政（Hisamasa Fukuda）.
Although I couldn't find any information about him either in English or Japanese, a tsuba purportedly made by him sold at an auction here at a pretty good price last year. Yahoo!オークション - 【美】WA143 江戸名工 【福田寿政】 作 真鍮金銀...

Kindest regards,

Akira

[Tank Destroyer]

Art work and fine craftsmanship at its best.

[ghp95134]

Akira-san,

EXCELLENT!!!! Thank you very much. Now I can see the 寿 clearly -- thanks to your instruction.

Best regards,
-- Guy