NH-0575 Rank 86
Tsuba · Akasaka Tadamasa (2nd generation)
二代赤坂忠正 (Nidai Akasaka Tadamasa)
Openwork iron tsuba with the Musashino motif (susuki grass, dew and crescent moon), unsigned and attributed by the NBTHK to the second-generation Akasaka Tadamasa; designated Jūyō Tōsōgu in 2006.
Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
Description
Iron tsuba of tate-maru shape, only slightly taller than wide (8.0 × 7.8 cm, rim 0.7 cm thick according to the paper), unsigned. The NBTHK designation certificate for 重要刀装具 (Jūyō Tōsōgu), issued at the 52nd session (12 October 2006), attributes it to the second generation of Akasaka Tadamasa and places it in the early Edo period. The Akasaka school, settled in the district of that name in Edo, ranks among the great houses of pierced iron tsuba alongside those of Kyōto, Owari and Higo, and its first three generations did not sign their work. The subject is the so-called 武蔵野図 (Musashino-zu): crossing blades of susuki grass heavy with dewdrops, cut in ji-sukashi, with a crescent moon opened in negative near the left edge, in a play of positive and negative space (in'yō-sukashi). The photographs show finely polished iron with a dark brown patina, a rounded rim and clean, economical piercing with no superfluous mass. Both hitsu-ana are present; the kōgai opening is markedly smaller than the kozuka opening, a trait the designation text links to the first generation. The central opening carries yellow-metal sekigane at top and bottom.
Strong points
- Designated Jūyō Tōsōgu by the NBTHK (52nd session, 2006)
- Attributed by the paper to the second-generation Akasaka Tadamasa of the early Akasaka school
- Musashino motif in pierced iron, with the crescent moon opened in negative
- Well-forged iron with a stable dark patina, photographed on both faces and the rim
Points to bear in mind
- Unsigned: the authorship is an attribution by the paper, not a signature
- Sekigane in the central opening and small fitting marks on the seppa-dai
- Brown tones of old, stable rust on the inner walls of the piercing
Score breakdown
61.6/100
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 15 of 25 Unsigned, attributed by the paper to a master
- Workmanship 15 of 20 Notable work
- Condition 14 of 18 Good condition
- Period 9 of 12 Early Edo (1615–1688)
- Paper 8 of 10 NBTHK Jūyō Tōsōgu
- Extras 0 of 5 No complete set by the same maker and no inscribed box
- Price 0.6 of 10 Rank 214 of 228 by price among pieces of its type, from the most affordable to the dearest