Whip Design Tsuba: Yamashiro no Kuni ju Umetada Shigenari

寸法

縦83.0ミリ　横77.0ミリ　切羽台厚3.3ミリ　耳厚4.8ミリ

Accessories

桐箱

Weight

重量121グラム

As written by the shop

Machine translation from the shop's Japanese · may contain errors · Show original

Umedada Shigenari, known as Shichizaemon, was a metalworker of the Umedada school who used the Tachibana surname. Living in Nishijin, Yamashiro no Kuni, he was active primarily around the Enpo and Tenna eras; it is said he was summoned by the Shogunate to travel to Edo and also resided in Shiba Katamonzen-cho. Known as a skilled hand of the Umedada school, he left behind tsuba featuring carvings and zogan on various base metals, starting with tetsu-ji. Among extant works, mei such as "Yamashiro no Kuni ju Umedada Shigenari" and "Yamashiro no Kuni Nishijin ju Umedada Tachibana Shigenari" have been confirmed, and the Cultural Heritage Database also includes a work by Shigenari featuring sukibori and kin-gin zogan on tetsu-ji. A whip is a practical tool for controlling a horse, and at the same time, it is a motif that evokes the equestrian culture of the samurai class. In this work, rather than simply depicting a whip on the tsuba surface, the knotted form of the whip wraps entirely around the mimi, incorporating that three-dimensional contour into the very outer shape of the tsuba; the outstanding inspiration of Umedada Shigenari, which integrates design and modeling, stands out. The thickness of the mimi is maintained at 4.8 mm, and because each continuous knot is expressed with thick niku, it tightens the composition as a powerful border from the front, while from an angle, the volume and shadows of the whip rising from the tetsu-ji appear clearly. On the omote surface, a rope is performed with suakado zogan followed by kin-iroe, depicting a form that stretches with varying rhythm as it broadly crosses the tsuba surface from the bottom right. The golden lines float vividly atop the tetsu-ji which exhibits a deep black color, and while the lines expressed finely down to the twists of the rope create light movement, kin-nunome zogan is added to the handle of the whip to provide variation in technique and brilliance, skillfully combining the different works of suakado zogan, kin-iroe, and kin-nunome zogan within a concise composition. Precisely because it is a composition that boldly leaves wide yohaku, the undulation of the rope and the whip encircling the mimi respond to one another, allowing one to enjoy a modest yet deeply impressive keshiki where the fine gold lines appear and recede depending on the viewing angle. On the ura surface, the rope is expressed in a wachi-gai shape at the bottom left, changing the mood from the relaxed composition of the omote and condensing the motif into the form of intertwined rings. In this composition, which maintains a sense of overall unity through the whip encircling the mimi while changing the presentation of the rope between omote and ura, one can see the author's excellent sense of design that makes full use of the limited tsuba surface; the kogai-hitsu-ana is carefully filled with shakudo, and suakado sekigane are applied to the top and bottom of the nakago-ana, leaving behind a certain provenance as a sword fitting that was practically used even in the finishing of details. The large-scale tetsu-ji, the whip-shaped mimi showing rich niku-oki, the gold rope striking against the black ground, and the composition with different themes on the omote and ura come together as one; the charm of this piece lies in how it leaves a strong impression through only the color tones of the materials and the movement of lines, without relying on gaudy takabori. Accompanied by a Hozon Tosogu Kanteisho, this is a tsuba rich in design quality even among the works of this smith, allowing one to fully appreciate the certain skill and playfulness of Umedada Shigenari, as well as the beauty of the tetsu-aji and zogan.