Japanese Sword Society of the United States 2014 Journals

By JSS US

A collection of articles on the study of Japanese Swords (Nihonto)and Sword Fittings(Tosogu) published in volume 46 of the Japanese Sword Society of the United States Newsletters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: May 25, 2015
• ISBN: 9781329114791

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Japanese Sword Soceity of the United States

Volume 46

Contents

Connoisseur’s Notebook Decoration of Namban Tsuba by James L. McElhinney

Japanese Cloisonne’ in tosogu, by Mike Vinehout

Tosogu no Kigen, by Masayuki Sasano

Exploring the Mino-to Taikan with Mino Swords by Mike Vinehout, translation by Markus Sesko

Mino-to Taikan Index Translation by Markus Sesko

Connoisseur’s Notebook International Trade with Japan 1542-1854 by James L. McElhinney

From a Beginners Perspective by John Weeks

The Sword of Japan written by J.W. Bott – a review by Barry Hennick

What Makes A Collector by Elliott D. Long

Cutting Ability Nicknames of Swords by Markus Sesko

Tampa Show Report by Barry Hennick

Soshu Akihiro at the Tampa Show by Barry Hennick

Pax Tokugawa: Its Influence on the Japanese Sword By Arnold Frenzel

Forensics: Weapon-related trauma on Seiyokan cranial remains, Kamakura by Randy McCall

Metallurgical analysis of Japanese gunto by US War Department, 1946 Posted by Randy McCall

The Rituals of Victory, by Mike Vinehout, with assistance from Dr. Chris Leung and Markus Sesko

Gendai Tanto by Toshihide student, Yasuhide by Ron Hartmann

Sword Clubs

Japanese Sword Society of the United States Information and Membership Application

Japanese Sword Society of the United States Books For Sale

CONNOISSEUR’S NOTEBOOK

By James L. McElhinney © 2013 DECORATION OF NAMBAN TSUBA (3)

Nagasaki (?) sword guard decorated with design based on silk embroidery.

Gold nunome on iron with some hirazogan. Both hitsuana are later additions

The texturing of iron to represent Portuguese leather and brocades…

-Dr. John Lissenden

Decoration and Function

The Japanese sword-guard is a secondary art form. Its primary function is practical. Because its form is predicated on use, its decoration is of secondary importance to its function. Art forms that occupy positions of primacy include drawing, architecture, sculpture, painting, calligraphy, pottery and (in Japan) sword-blades.

Patterns of the jihada or the hamon on a Japanese sword-blade were not created for the sake of visual pleasure but to improve blade function. Certain forging methods are expressed by surface patterns revealed by skillful polishing. Likewise, the process of hardening and tempering of the edge is expressed by different hamon patterns. Combining specific forging methods with specific temper-lines can make a blade strong or brittle. Horimono such as bo-hi have the functional value of making the blade lighter in weight and resistant to bending, while decorative horimono have no function pertaining to use.

In form, Japanese sword-guards are usually discoid plates, pierced in the center with a hole to accommodate the nakago or tang of the blade, surrounded by the seppa-dai—usually a flat elliptical surface used to seat similarly shaped washers. The area between the seppa-dai and the rim (mimi) may be decorated by simple yo-sukashi motifs such as are found in early guards by armor-makers and swordsmiths, or ji-sukashi designs that became popular during the late Muromachi period and were produced by professional tsuba-makers. Many of the latter utilize pictorial subjects. Sasano observed a correlation between these designs and the esthetics of ink painting and the tea ceremony, while pairing Edo-period works in the machibori tradition with popular forms of their time, most notably Ukiyo-e.  Fushimi Kaneiye and later, the Jakushi school of Hizen based their designs on Chinese Sansui painting, depicting mountains and water—subjects that were popular also with Choshu, Mito and Aizu tsubako.

The formal Iyebori style practiced by the various branches of the Goto School was synonymous with the official taste of the Shogunal court. It was more sculptural and less pictorial, family Mon, discreet objects or creatures, set against a field of nanako. Defining nanako as a fish-roe pattern summons up curious images of noble weapons festooned with trompe-l’oeil caviar.  Banishing the habitual association between nanako and Beluga, nanako begins to resemble fine, closely woven silk. I have not done the research, but it would be useful to determine if "nanako" was ever in use as a term to describe a variety of silken textile. This makes far more sense than would the ruling elite wearing sword-fittings duplicating fish-eggs. Fineness or coarseness of nanako patterns could be correlated to thread count, a measure of quality in textiles.

The value of proposing this concept for consideration and research is how it relates to origins of the decorative treatment of Namban tsuba.

All sword guards utilize decorative ideas, appropriated from folk art, sculpture, calligraphy, or the pictorial arts. I will show that the design source for Namban tsuba decoration was the international textile and porcelain trade conducted by the Dutch East India Company and Chinese merchants operating in Nagasaki. Silk brocades and blue-painted porcelain transmitted visual ideas across the globe, traveling in the holds of ships plying the seas between East Asia and Europe around the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch, British and Portuguese, and by the Spanish between Manila and Iberia via Acapulco and Veracruz. In the book based on his master’s thesis from the University of Durham, Dr. John Lissenden writes:

The texturing of iron to represent Portuguese leather and brocades; discoid tsuba in imitation of Western rapier guards; figures of Gaijin in Western dress; and foreign objects such as terrestrial globes all appear on guards.

Lissenden never develops an argument to explore the esthetic consequences of what he describes in this sentence, and focuses instead on various modes of quantitative analysis.  In this one observation, Lissenden goes straight to the point.

Design concepts used in the decoration of Namban tsuba are mostly based on maritime trade textiles.  Exceptions include what Lissenden terms auriculate (ear-shaped), tsuba produced in the form of European small-sword guards, and those portraying Europeans or their ships—variants produced in relatively small numbers compared to the vast quantity of Chinese-style Namban sword-guards that frequently depict dragons and other mythological creatures, writhing amid densely intertwined tendrils, waves and clouds; designs also commonly found on export textiles and porcelain. Thoughts on this will be developed in a future installment.

The 2013-2014 exhibition Interwoven Globe at the Metropolitan Museum of Art reveals how the textile trade during the 17th and 18th centuries functioned as an Early Modern Internet, which led to the formation of an international decorative style. Not only were these design concepts interchangeable from weaving and embroidery in textiles, they found traction in painted pottery, inlaid furniture and metalwork: they respected no boundaries or local craft traditions.

In some ways the circulation of trade goods between Asia, Europe and the Americas during the 17th and 18th centuries foretold today’s fashion industry and its knockoffs. One must remember that aside from its function as a weaponry component, any tsuba was also a fashion accessory.

The Namban style that evolved during the Edo period was merely a localized manifestation of a global phenomenon that questions just how absolute was Japan’s cultural isolation under the Tokugawa Bakufu. Despite the low regard in which many collectors hold them, Namban sword guards