NH-0518 Rank 79
Tsuba · Kyō-sukashi
Pierced iron tsuba of the Kyō-sukashi school with a Yatsuhashi and wild geese (karigane) design, unsigned, with an NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper.
Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
Description
Unsigned iron tsuba attributed by its NBTHK paper to the Kyō-sukashi school, the openwork workshops active in Kyoto from the Muromachi period onwards. The design, in jisukashi (openwork cut from the plate itself), depicts Yatsuhashi, the stepped plank bridge of classical literary tradition, together with stylised wild geese (karigane) and a meandering stream in the lower part, all enclosed within a lobed rim worked in nikubori-mimi. The shape is kawari-gata, almost round. The photographs show a thin plate with slender, even members and iron with a visible grain under a uniform blackish-brown patina, with no active red rust or noticeable cracks. Small remnants of copper remain at the upper edge of the central opening, probably from former sekigane. According to the original seller it measures 8.04 × 7.61 cm, is 0.52 cm thick at the seppa-dai and weighs 64.5 g. The Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu paper no. 2012041, dated 24 March 2026, describes it as 八橋雁金透鐔 無銘 京透 (Yatsuhashi karigane sukashi tsuba, mumei, Kyō-sukashi). It comes in a fabric-lined wooden box.
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper, visible in the photographs
- Graphic Yatsuhashi and karigane composition, typical of the Kyō-sukashi school
- Fine, even openwork on a thin plate, with a lobed nikubori-mimi rim
- Uniform iron patina with no visible active rust or cracks
- Photographed on both faces and on the rim
Points to bear in mind
- Unsigned: the paper attributes it to a school, not to a maker
- The paper does not date the piece; the period comes from the original seller and from the style
- Small copper remnants at the upper edge of the central opening, probably from former sekigane
- The wooden box shows no expert inscription
Score breakdown
62.7/100
The score shares out 100 points: Maker 25 · Workmanship 20 · Condition 18 · Period 12 · Paper 10 · Extras 5 · Price 10. It is computed from the record, not from an opinion. Maker, workmanship, condition and period are judged from the photographs and the paper; price is compared only with fittings of the same type.
- Maker 9 of 25 Attributed to a school only
- Workmanship 15 of 20 Notable work
- Condition 14 of 18 Good condition
- Period 12 of 12 Muromachi or earlier (before 1573)
- Paper 4 of 10 NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu
- Extras 0 of 5 No complete set by the same maker and no inscribed box
- Price 8.7 of 10 Rank 30 of 228 by price among pieces of its type, from the most affordable to the dearest