tansu
tansu
This tsuba is described as openwork. The shakudo has been delicately pierced with a design called Shippo Tsunagi (endless circle of treasures). This sort of design can only be produced by “a very laborious method of procedure. A minute hole was first drilled in the iron with a fine steel wire moistened with oil and powdered garnets or silicious rock; the hole was then elongated into a slit by means of another fine steel wire used as a saw, also moistened with oil and the above powder. These cuts were further continued with flat wires and were then reduced to the extreme degree of fineness required by hammering both sides of the metal until they were sufficiently closed. The sides of the cuts were kept parallel by rubbing them from time to time with flat wires of steel and grinding powder” (Gunsaulus 1923:71).

The Ito or Odawara school of tsuba manufacture started as an offshoot of the Umetada style. It was founded by Umetada Myoju in the year 1600 and soon became popular for its openwork tsuba. The goal of this school of tsuba manufacture was to produce a tsuba that gave adequate protection to the user, did not weigh too much, and also looked beautiful. The artists of this school fulfilled their goal admirably (Gunsaulus 1923:70-71, Okabe-Kakuya 1909:43-44)

Shakudo (literally “red copper”) is a metal alloy that was invented and used exclusively by the Japanese. There are fifteen grades of shakudo, all are primarily copper with an inclusion of at least four percent gold, and oftentimes small amounts of other metals. When cast, shakudo is a dark copper color but it is most often treated with a boiling or “pickle” solution which results in a rich, velvety black color with a violet sheen (Gunsaulus 1923:35-36, Rucker 1924:xxiii-xxiv).

(Commentary by Rob Nalewajk)

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