NH-0700 Rank 331
Tsuba · Hayashi school
Unsigned iron mokkō-gata tsuba pierced in kage-sukashi with scattered crests, attributed by its NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon paper to the Hayashi school of Higo.
Photographs
Photographs by the seller at origin.
Description
Unsigned iron tsuba of four-lobed mokkō-gata (木瓜形, mokkō-gata) shape with a rounded maru-mimi (丸耳, maru-mimi) rim. The NBTHK paper attributes it to the Hayashi school (林, Hayashi), the Higo lineage known for its cleanly drawn pierced ironwork. The design is a mon-chirashi, a scattering of family crests worked in kage-sukashi (陰透, kage-sukashi), in which each motif reads as a cut-out silhouette: at the top a plant motif with leafy sprigs; at the sides a double gourd, four-petalled flowers and a swirl; at the bottom a triple tomoe. The two half-moon hitsu-ana are open and carry thin strips of pale metal along their straight side. The photographs show both faces and oblique views of the edge: the iron keeps a dark brown-to-black patina with fine, stable pitting and no active red rust; the seppa-dai is lighter from handling wear and the central opening has small copper sekigane. The original seller gives 8.21 × 7.42 cm, 0.46 cm thickness and 116 g, and supplies it in a paulownia box. The paper is a Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu (特別保存刀装具, tokubetsu hozon tōsōgu), no. 2005298, dated 16 November 2018, describing the piece as 紋散透鐔 (mon-chirashi-sukashi tsuba), 無銘 (mumei), 鉄地 (tetsuji).
Strong points
- NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu paper no. 2005298 (2018)
- Attributed by the paper to the Hayashi school (林, Hayashi) of Higo
- Kage-sukashi of scattered crests with clean cuts and a balanced layout
- Iron with a stable dark patina, no active rust
- Both faces and the edge well documented in the photographs
Points to bear in mind
- Unsigned: a school attribution, not to a specific master
- The seppa-dai shows the lightening typical of use
- Copper sekigane in the central opening and pale metal strips in the hitsu-ana
- The paper gives no date; the Edo sub-period cannot be pinned down
Score breakdown
48.3/100
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 10 of 20 Good work
- Condition 14 of 18 Good condition
- Period 5 of 12 Late Edo (1781–1868)
- Paper 4 of 10 NBTHK Tokubetsu Hozon Tōsōgu
- Extras 0 of 5 No complete set by the same maker and no inscribed box
- Price 6.3 of 10 Rank 86 of 228 by price among pieces of its type, from the most affordable to the dearest